- 7 U 3 3 

IV id 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 730 342 2 






F EDUCATION 



DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 



THE CITY OF NEW YORK 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL 
REPORT 



OF THE 



CITY SUPERINTENDENT 
OF SCHOOLS 

1913-1914 



REPORTS ON DEFECTIVE CHILDREN 

MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

THE ANAEMIC 

THE TUBERCULOUS 

THE BLIND 

THE DEAF AND DUMB 

THE CRIPPLED 

VISITING TEACHERS 



PRESENTED TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION 
DECEMBER 9, 1914 



Q 



,£: 



& 



*°KS 



• a \ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



^ 



PAGE 

Letter op Transmittal 4 

Report on Ungraded (Mentally Atypical) Classes. 7-31 

Advisory Council 7 

Type of medical examination 8-9 

Segregation of types of atypical children 10 

Existing administrative staff inadequate 11-15 

Difficulty in establishing ungraded classes 16 

Number and distribution of ungraded classes and register of pupils. . 16 

Schools proposing children for ungraded classes 17 

Insufficient clerical staff 18-19 

Laboratory 19 

Visiting teachers 19-20 

Visiting teachers' report of work 21-27 

Survey of results of ungraded class training 28-31 

Summary of recommendations 31 

Report on Open-air Classes 32-54 

Classes for tuberculous children 32-33 

Advantages of schooling for tuberculous children 33-34 

Effect of cold air on tuberculous children 34-35 

Statistics 36 

Schools having anaemic classes 37 

Temperature of classrooms 38 

Kind and situation of open-air classrooms 38-39 

Proper equipments of rooms and clothing of children 39-40 

Results of these classes on physical condition 40-41 

Permanency of results 41-42 

Need for more anaemic classes 42 

Statistics 43-45 

Open-window classes for normal children 46-48 

Teachers' reports on such classes 48-49 

Suggestions for management of open-window classes 50-53 

Problems of ventilation 53-54 



X 1(5 r x 



Si 

"5 
|4 

3 

PAGBS 

Classes for Blind Children 55-62 

Reference to death of Miss Gertrude E. Bingham 55 

Statistics 55-56 

Classes in elementary schools 56 

Pupils in high schools 56-58 

Work in printing office for the blind 58 

Vocational training in connection with blind pupils in our classes . . 58-60 

Physical training — Athletics 60 

Lectures for blind children in American Museum of Natural History 62 

Eye examinations at clinic 62 

Glasses for children with defective vision 62 

School for the Deaf 63-71 

Statistics 63-64 

Origin and distribution of deafness 64-66 

Physical care of the deaf 66-68 

The mental side W. . .68-69 

Industrial work for the deaf 69-70 

The graduates of the school 70-71 

Need of a new building 71 

The voice 71 

Classes for Crippled Children 73-75 

Statistics 73 

East Side Free School Association for Crippled Children 74 

Association for the Aid of Crippled Children 74 

Industrial work 74 

Proposed inspection of classes for crippled children 75 

Report on Visiting Teachers 78-84 

General purpose and metnod of work 78 

Summary of cases treated 79 

Conditions investigated 79 

Conditions found 79 

Action taken 79 

Outcome of investigation 80 

Agencies that co-operated with the visiting teachers 80 

A few significant cases 80-81 

Testimony of principals 81-84 

Testimony of district superintendents 84 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



New York, July 20, 1914. 
To the Board of Education: 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I have the honor to present in this pamphlet the reports of our 
school work for defective children — the mentally defective, the 
anemic, the tuberculous, the blind, the deaf and dumb, and the 
crippled. 

A feature of the report prepared by Miss Elizabeth E. Farrell, 
Inspector of Ungraded Classes (classes for mentally defective 
children), is the account of the work of two visiting teachers, 
appointed for the first time last year. Another interesting feature 
is a survey of the after life of 86 atypical boys and 38 atypical 
girls who left the ungraded classes after a training of three or four 
years. The survey shows that 54 per cent of these children are 
now engaged in some kind of remunerative employment. 

Miss Farrell shows very clearly the necessity for more labora- 
tory and office space to conduct the examination of children 
alleged to be mentally defective, of more physicians to examine 
them, of more visiting teachers to discover life histories and to 
bring the home into co-operation with the school, of more trained 
teachers to train these unfortunate children when they are gath- 
ered into classrooms, and of more classrooms in which to grade 
them in accordance with the degree of defect. 

Dr. I. Ogden Woodruff, who for three years, without remuner- 
ation, inspected and reported upon open-air classes, became, during 
the year, a salaried officer of the Board of Education, with special 
assignment to the supervision of all open-air classes. His report 



will be found valuable, not only because of his clear account of 
what was accomplished during the year in our three kinds of open- 
air classes — classes for the tuberculous, classes for the anaemic, 
which care for children who are subnormal physically, and open- 
window classes for normal children, — but more particularly for 
his demonstration of the permanence of the good effects produced 
by open-air classes and his suggestions to principals and teachers 
for the management of open- window classes for normal pupils. 
A study of this report would scarcely fail to impress your Board 
with the propriety — if not the necessity— of largely increasing the 
facilities for teaching in the open air. 

The Report on Classes for the Blind shows that substantial 
progress is being made in the work of teaching the blind. The 
suggestion that a special teacher of music, to train blind children 
endowed with the musical gift, be appointed, is worthy of careful 
consideration. | 

The need of a new building in which to carry on the beneficent 
work of teaching the deaf to speak and to understand what others 
say by reading their lips, and to provide increased opportunity 
for vocational training, is ably set forth by Miss Carrie W. Kearns, 
Principal of the School for the Deaf. 

Superintendent Edson, who reports on the classes for crippled 
children, shows the necessity of gathering these classes into cen- 
trally located and specially equipped buildings. 

Because of the intimate connection between the work of visit- 
ing teachers and the school \. jrk of mentally and physically 
defective children (thoiign the work of the visiting teacher is not 
by any means limited to such children) , I publish in this pamphlet 
Superintendent ICdson's account of the work accomplished by 
visiting teachers. 

Eight 'Visiting teachers were appointed during the year. Their 
work Has been carefully watched. Mr. Edson's report is extremely 
valuable, because of its summary of the testimony to the worth 
of Ahis work borne by district superintendents and principals. I 
sjmcerely trust that this testimony will lead to a very great en- 



6 

largement of the corps of visiting teachers. In a small city or 
village, where the population is fairly homogeneous, where all 
teachers live near their work, and where the schools are not 
crowded, necessary visiting at homes may be done by the regular 
staff of teachers. Such is not the case, however, in a city of the 
dimensions of New York, or even a city much smaller. In a 
community in which teachers frequently live at a great distance 
from their schools, in which the teacher, at the close of the day's 
work is worn out by the management of crowded classes, and in 
which a very large proportion of the parents do not speak English, 
the work of visiting homes becomes a special function. Many of 
our principals and teachers, particularly the kindergarten teachers, 
do much visiting at homes. Nor should this work be discontinued. 
The conscientious teacher will always find work of this kind to do. 
But there are so many cases in which, in order to bring about due 
correlation between the work of the school and the work of the 
home, so much time and so much energy and so much sympathy 
are required, that the class teacher cannot possibly bring about 
the desired results. Her reserves of time, energy, and sympathy 
are not sufficient. For such cases the visiting teacher becomes a 
necessity. 

I urgently recommend that the force of visiting teachers be 
increased from eight to twenty-five. 

Respectfully yours, 

WM. H. MAXWELL, 

Cit> Cuoerintendent of Schools 



\ 



MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

Report on Work of Ungraded Classes 

(From Report of Miss Elizabeth E. Farrell, Inspector 
of Ungraded Classes) 

ADVISORY COUNCIL 

The most significant thing in the history of the ungraded class 
movement in New York City is the acceptance during the last 
year by the Department of Education of the services of public- 
spirited men and women to serve in the capacity of advisers to the 
Department of Ungraded Classes. In offering their services to the 
city, the Council set forth as its objects: 

1. — To work out a type of examination for children who are backward in their 
school work. 

2. — To formulate public opinion with regard to adequate institutional pro- 
vision for such children as need it. 

3. — To recommend such legal protection for children entering industry from 
ungraded classes as seems desirable. 

4. — To advise with regard to types and methods of training for atypical chil- 
dren in the public schools. 

The Advisory Council is made up of experienced alienists, 
neurologists, educators, sociologists, and psychologists, as follows: 

L. Pierce Clark, M.D. Mrs. Wesley C. Mitchell 

Charles L. Dana, M.D. Frederick Peterson, M.D. 

Stephen Pierce Duggan, Ph.D. James Putnam, M.D. 

August Hoch, M.D. Bernard Sachs, M.D. 

Eleanor Hope Johnson Israel Strauss, M.D. 

Mrs. Florence Kelley Lillian D. Wald 

Foster Kennedy, M.D. Elizabeth E. Farrell, Secretary 
Adolf Meyer, M.D. 



Their conspicuous contribution to the work in the schools 
during the past year has been twofold. In conference with the 
regular staff, a type of examination has been worked out which 
is in accord with the best traditions in this work. They have 
taken an aggressive part in initiating legislation affecting the 
mentally deficient throughout the State. They have advocated 
publicly and privately the passage of a bill giving the Governor 
authority to appoint a Commission of five persons to investigate 
present provision for the care of the mentally deficient in this 
State and to outline a program for its improvement. 

TYPE OF MEDICAL EXAMINATION 

The type of medical examination was worked out after certain 
neurologists of the Advisory Council had given at least one after- 
noon a week in this office for the purpose of seeing certain selected 
cases referred by the examiners on the regular staff. Attention 
should be given to the detail which characterizes these examina- 
tions. We are not satisfied with examination by one person, with 
the results of one test, such as the Binet-Simon test, but each case 
is studied and tested by different individuals. In every difficult 
case as many as four examiners try to analyze the mind not only 
on its intellectual side but on the emotional and on the volitional 
as well. To understand a case thoroughly we must not rely 
entirely upon laboratory tests. They must be supplemented by 
records of social and economic efficiency. This necessitates, 
therefore, the consideration of the following groups of data: 
1 —Record of school achievement; 2 — Record of home and envi- 
ronmental conditions; 3 — Record of neurological and psycholog- 
ical examination; 4 — Record of personality study. 

TYPE OF EXAMINATION AND RECORD 

Case I. The study is based upon a boy, aged fourteen years, who is 
totally unable to make any progress in the ordinary book work of his school. 
He cannot spell the simplest words, such as "girl" or "desk," and does not 
know the three times table in multiplication. His sense training in the school 
is but fair. He was especially quick to respond to commands in all 
physical training. His handwriting was shaky and much of his industrial 



9 

training was accompanied by trembling movements. He speaks well. His 
reading and arithmetic are equal to a boy's of seven years. The amount 
of general information is fair. His power of attention and memory is good. 
In the ungraded class he does good manual labor. 

The family history is negative, and throws no light on the causes of his 
mental defect. An inquiry into the personal history is negative aside from 
an attack of scarlet fever at three years of age. A year after the fever, which 
was moderately severe, he had two or three peculiar faint turns which pointed 
to a certain type of epileptic fits, but nothing similar to them has occurred 
since. He is a robust, fine looking, bright boy, with no apparent physical or 
nervous disorder. 

Careful test shows his intellectual development to be that of a boy of 
seven years. He stands in great terror of his father and the teachers, who 
think he is lazy and unwilling to learn. At home, he reads his lessons over and 
over again before the father comes home at night so that the father will not hear 
his mistakes and scold him, but he continues to make mistakes in spite of all 
efforts. The main examination shows that he has a good disposition. He 
went through all the manual and motor tests easily and well. It was &mnd 
that ever since the attack of scarlet fever at three years, he has been sluggish 
and indifferent to any kind of work requiring visual memory. He has always 
been poorest in spelling. His motor cleverness and ability to handle and 
understand mechanical work is well shown in an incident of last summer, 
while in the country on a vacation. He wanted to take two broken bicycles 
apart and make one good one out of the remnants; after days of labor and 
constructive adaptation he succeeded in accomplishing the task, in spite 
of receiving advice that it could not be done. It is found that he has gradually 
become a timid type of boy who never plays freely or naturally with other 
children and always prefers to be alone. He is interested in electrical work 
and attends to the electric bells in his home, and in fact does all the repair 
jobs about the house. He is employed by the teachers in his school at all 
sorts of work. His very lack of getting on at school seems to have engendered 
a shyness, timidity, and feeling of inadequacy and doubt, which in turn are 
slowly shutting him out of daily friendly contact with the outside world. He 
is becoming morose and solitary in habits. What the boy himself has to say 
is as follows: 

"I don't know why I can't get on at school; I can't spell nor write nor do 
arithmetic. I can do any sort of hand work; I seem to understand that by 
nature, but I can't carry anything in my mind. I mean I can't see a thing in 
the shop window and go home and make any part of the toy or machine by 
having just seen it in the shop. I want to be an electrician, but realize I must 
know more about books if I am to do any good work in life. If I could get 
an education through my hands it would be easy." 



10 

SEGREGATION OF TYPES OF ATYPICAL CHILDREN 

It will not be understood that an examination such as that 
detailed above is given to every child who is proposed for an 
ungraded class. The obvious case of mental defect is easy to 
detect. The borderline cases, the nervous children, in which 
group are found those afflicted with hysteria, habit spasms, fears, 
epilepsies, the timid, shy, depressed, the excitable types, the 
delinquent and the truant, call for all phases of physical and mental 
testing in order that their reactions and the depth and breadth of 
their personalities may be somewhat laid bare. 

The children in this second group present some of the most 
serious problems in community life. On every hand researches 
are being made into the causes of vagrancy, .crime, pauperism and 
the diseases of social life, but in all of these researches it is a 
product, a result that is dealt with. The research student in 
penology, like the alienist, must view in retrospect the individual's 
life, and reconstruct, if possible, the early youth and childhood of 
the person who is a pauper, a criminal, or a mental wreck. Even 
if it were possible to reconstruct accurately the past of these 
unfortunate individuals, the greatest difficulty is still ahead of 
the worker. A cure, a reformation is to be effected. This means 
that the individual must be re-educated, re-formed; his habits 
and instincts and interests must be re-established and in the right 
way. To do this in adult life is almost an impossible task. If the 
tendencies had been detected while the personality was still 
plastic enough to permit of change, we might have prevented that 
which it is difficult if not impossible to cure. 

Examinations such as have been indicated above have yielded 
results. It is proposed to individualize ungraded classes, to put 
into a given class those children whose needs are similar. An 
endeavor will be made to have teachers informed as to the char- 
acteristic phases of the work in these special classes. They will 
know the children best. They will be encouraged to study the 
instinctive life of the child as it develops, to analyze the com- 
ponent parts of the individual's personality, to determine the 



11 

formative traits or trends of character, in order that educational 
changes or environmental changes may be made as seem necessary. 

EXISTING ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF INADEQUATE 

The additions to the administrative staff were made in Sep- 
tember, 1913. It is to be regretted, however, that the requests 
granted at that time for additional help were those made some 
three years ago. They were based on the amount of work turned 
into this office during 1910-1911. It is needless to say that the 
acquisitions were entirely inadequate to the amount of work to be 
done in 1914. Therefore it becomes necessary again to call 
attention to the fact that additional physicians, inspectors and 
social workers are urgently needed at once to do the work of the 
department. 

In no place is the inadequacy of our staff so evident as in the 
conduct of clinics for the examination of children who are not 
obviously defective. Their examination demands special equip- 
ment and apparatus, quiet and time to do the work. It is im- 
perative that more such clinics should be held. Instead of having 
only two central places of examination, there should be at least 
one such place in each borough. While the work has been done 
at four central clinics a week during the past year, it is hoped 
that we shall be able to devote each afternoon in the week and 
Saturday morning to the examination of these higher types of 
variant mentality. 

Elementary school principals, the permanent census bureau 
and child welfare agencies proposed 4,739 children for examination. 
This is the largest number to be referred in any one year. It seems 
to confirm what has long been felt that as soon as the number of 
workers is at all commensurate, the amount of work to be done is 
increasingly in evidence. Of this number a total of 2,956 were 
examined. The difference between the number proposed and 
the number actually examined is very great. It is to be explained, 
however, by the fact that Dr. Smart has been absent for several 
months because of serious personal illness. 



12 



RE-EXAMINATION 



It is again necessary to report that the re-examination of all 
children in ungraded classes has been impossible. That the regular 
school grades might not be too seriously burdened by the presence 
in them of slow and defective children, the policy has been to do 
the new work whenever possible. The children in the ungraded 
classes have been neglected. It would be hard to exaggerate the 
necessity of regular re-examinations of these children. Their im- 
provement is to come, if at all, with improved physical, hygienic, 
and educational treatment and training. 



13 



B 




A = No. Cases Reported. 
B= " " Examined. 
C= " " Not Examined. 
D= " " Approved. 
E= " " Not Approved. 



14 



A / 1.— Medical staff in 1906. 
\ 2. — No children proposed in 1906. 

„ / 1.— Medical staff in 1914. 

\ 2. — No. children proposed in 1914. 





15 






Year 


Number Reported 


Number Examined 


Not Examined. 


1912-1913 


3430 


1791 


1639 


1913-1914 


4739 


2956 


1783 



B 2 



A* = No. Cases Proposed 1912-13. 
A2= « « Examined 1912-13. 
Bi= ■ " Proposed 1913-14. 
B 2 = « « Examined 1913-14. 



16 



DIFFICULTY IN ESTABLISHING UNGRADED CLASSES 

In organizing ungraded classes one of the greatest difficulties 
is in finding a suitable room. In a given month during the spring 
term just ended, the district superintendents of schools throughout 
the city reported approximately one thousand children examined 
and approved for ungraded class work but not in such classes. A 
similar survey of available rooms in school buildings, or in annexes 
to the same, evidenced the inability to organize additional classes 
unless property could be rented for the purpose. It seems de- 
sirable to have money set aside for this purpose. I beg to recom- 
mend that ten thousand dollars, for the rental of rooms in which 
ungraded classes may be organized, be included in the school 
budget for 1915. 

NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF UNGRADED CLASSES 

To this date 192 ungraded classes have been authorized by the 
Board of Superintendents. Of this number 184 were in actual 
operation during the whole or part of the school year just closed. 
The remaining eight classes will be organized in September, 1914. 

The distribution of ungraded classes by boroughs is as follows: 

UNGRADED CLASSES 

1914 





Classes 

June 30 

after 

promotion 


Addi- 
tional 
classes 
auth- 
orized 
forSept. 


Total 
classes 
auth- 
orized 


Reg- 
ister 
June 30 
1914 


June 30, 1914 


Borough 


Teachers 


Vacan- 
cies 


For 

classes 
to be 
orga- 
nized 


Manhattan... 
The Bronx. . . 
Brooklyn .... 

Queens 

Richmond. . . 


92 
14 
64 
16 
3 




4 
1 

*2 


92 
18 
65 
17 
3 


1,496 
223 

1,002 

201 

50 


67 
13 
43 
15 
3 


25 
1 

21 
1 



4 
1 
1 


Total 


189 


6 


195 


2,972 


141 


48 


6 



*1 class discontinued. 



17 



SCHOOLS PROPOSING CHILDREN FOR UNGRADED CLASSES 

As has been done in former years, school principals were asked 
to report children whom they thought to be in need of ungraded 
class work. This request was made in the following way: 

" To Principals of Elementary Schools, 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 
I am sending you under separate cover application forms for the examina- 
tion of children whom you propose for ungraded class work. (These children 
should be brought immediately to the attention of the school doctor and the 
school nurse for care and treatment.) I suggest that you give your personal 
attention to the conspicuously backward children; those obviously mentally 
defective; those three years behind in their school work; those who are 
apparently unable to learn to read; those who have very deficient number 
sense; those who are truants; those who seem incorrigible and noticeably 
irritable and nervous. In judging the above points allowance should be made 
for the child's lack of educational opportunities. 

It is proposed to examine the children in accordance with the following 
schedule : 

SCHEDULE 
September, 1913 June, 1914 

DISTRICTS 

September 6, 8, 13, 14 February 

October 1, 2, 11, 16, 23, 25, 32, 37, 41, 43, 45 March 

November 4, 7, 15, 18, 19, 24, 28, 34, 39, 46 April 

December 3, 9, 10, 12, 20, 26, 27, 33, 36, 38 May 

January 5, 17, 21, 22, 29, 30, 31, 35, 40, 42, 44 June 

Because of the great pressure of work only such children will be examined 
as have been reported to this office at least ten days (10 days) prior to the first 
day of the month indicated for the different districts. It is imperative that 
the parent or some responsible person be present at the examination, which 
will be held in a school building to be determined later. 

I take pleasure in informing you that clinics for the examination of chil- 
dren are held each week in the Manhattan office on Thursday afternoon and 
Saturday morning and in the Brooklyn office Tuesday afternoon and Saturday 
morning. In order that unnecessary hardship to parents may be avoided, 
it is essential that appointments be made for children who are to be examined. 

Respectfully, 

WILLIAM H; MAXWELL, 

City Superintendent of Schools." 



18 



The response to this letter is as follows : 

Number of Elementary Schools 505 

Number of schools that did report 326 

Number of schools that did not report 179 

Total 505 




CLERICAL STAFF 

The conditions which prevailed last year and which were 
presented in the last annual report still obtain with regard to the 
clerical staff. A large part of the work is done by sustitute 
teachers without any special preparation in office work. This 
means that they must be trained by their daily work. It also 



19 

means that the daily work is never accomplished within the day. 
There is always much more to be done than can possibly be accom- 
plished with the staff as it exists at present. 

LABORATORY 

It is discouraging to report again that nothing has been done 
in the matter of providing adequate laboratory room. One of 
the physicians, as well as the social workers, has been obliged to 
use any desk which at the time might be unused. He has had no 
place to call his own, no possible way of taking care of his ma- 
terials and supplies. Such an arrangement does not make for 
efficiency. That it should be continued seems incredible. 

VISITING TEACHERS 

For the first time in the history of any school system in this 
country, if not in the world, visiting teachers, whose function is 
that of social workers, have been officially licensed to do for the 
children what the best teachers in smaller and less complex com- 
munities have always done. We have learned that if this service 
is left undone, it is at a great cost to the children and ultimately 
to the State. The hospital learned some years ago that its ex- 
pensive care was made more expensive when recovery was delayed 
because of certain conditions in the home which caused worry to 
the sick person; while others in need of convalescent care did not 
receive it if left to themselves. The consequence was they were 
often forced to return to the hospital for a more or less prolonged 
stay. The condition in the school is similar, particularly with 
those children who are slow and retarded. To know that they need 
glasses and to do nothing further is to be willing to repeat the 
expensive work of the school; to bring a slow and retarded child 
for a physical and mental examination without submitting definite 
information of his environmental setting and of his family and 
personal developmental history is to waste the time of several 
people, deny the child his best opportunity, and by so doing waste 
public funds. The story of this new factor in public education is 
told by the visiting teachers, Miss Brown and Miss Culp, in their 
report of the year's work, which I take pleasure in submitting. * 



20 



Q 
Q 



u. _j-«0 

< cQ U 
^ U- ^ U (0 3 Z 

o T OD^bZo 

° (0 • O I- S 0- u rn 



(0 

Lit! 



(0 


up 

^2 
p h 

z z 

U UJ 



(0 K- 

5^ 



z 
o 

> Q 

U J 
DC f 






li >- a 

_j h u 



(0 
L) 

h 

< 

i 
u 

o & 

-I 
cO cO 

=> < 

k u - 

o o 



$Z 

Jp 

O ry 

y er 

o 5 
u - 

u. u. 
o o 



y a? 

t £h 

o <° y -J 

guJ!0<> 
(V D 3 -J 

^ DO tO^^ 

^^ 

4 its 




21 



VISITING TEACHERS REPORT OF WORK 

The work is old, as old as the public schools. At first it was done by the 
teachers; often with more kindness than judgment, visiting here, teaching 
there things not written in books, giving often from a slender purse. Later, 
volunteer visitors from churches and clubs made occasional appearance in 
school, and sometimes straightened difficulties in the homes. Then, as the 
philanthropic societies grew up, the principals and teachers came to refer their 
children to them, and social workers went to the homes from the societies. 
Then the educational societies took up the work and as need arose have loaned 
skilled workers year by year to organize and practice a maximum of good 
with a minimum of confusion; and now the regularly appointed visiting 
teacher — is she not part of the logical development of the school? 

All stages of social service still exist, but unevenly. Visiting teachers 
have come to fill the gaps where social work is not done, and to relieve those 
principals, who, possessing the shepherd spirit, know only too well how much 
time, energy and money are spent in referring, conferring and visiting, and 
realize that this should be the work of one person with training, skill and time 
to work for results. Why should the workers be attached to schools? Be- 
cause we know the children, and we know each child's brothers and sisters, 
mothers, families — some for months, some for years. Because, though we 
can co-operate with other organizations, we cannot direct them. "Co-opera- 
tion" is a great slogan, but it does not mean asking somebody else to do 
the work. 

1. The children 

2. The parents 

3. The principals and teachers 

4. The Department of Ungraded Classes 

5. The Department of Education 

6. The co-operating agencies 

Each call naturally involves some benefit to all six bodies of people, but 
the degrees vary in each case. For instance, if the visiting teacher visits 
the public library to find a list of suitable reading for a high-grade mental 
defective, the class teacher is not as likely to reap immediate and general satis- 
faction therefrom as if the visiting teacher were conducting a child with a 
discharging ear to the dispensary, or urging a careless mother to send her 
child to school clean; yet all are good visits. In the same way the mother 
does not see the particular benefit to her in an unexpected call from a stranger 
who questions her on the subject of convulsions over and done with ten years 
ago, but the doctor who examines the child does. Then when Jenny knows 
more history than the teacher thought or when the mother learns that by 
proper care her boy may escape epileptic attacks, the purpose of our work 
begins to be appreciated. 



WE SERVE 



22 

Special cases needing adjustment. The adjustment of special cases seems 
to take up most of our time. For instance, the truants who have to be coaxed 
in the home or on the street corner day after day; the cases of home guardian- 
ship so bad that children disappear for days; the guiding of children to insti- 
tutions and persuading parents to let them stay. For example: John 
Kennedy, a low grade defective, was kept home on the (verbal) advice of a 
doctor who said he has brain tumor and a weak heart. The visiting teacher 
went to the home and in the course of conversation found that the doctor's 
treatment consists of very expensive pills and "plenty of fresh air and 
exercise." The fresh air was acquired on the father's vegetable cart and the 
exercise consisted of carrying loads of potatoes to the top floors of tenements. 
Armed with this information the visiting teacher telephoned the doctor, who 
had seen the boy but twice. Would he advise institutional care? Yes. Did 
he know the work of the ungraded classes? No. He thought the boy was 
in a 4B grade. After this conversation the doctor and visiting teacher 
advised in harmony as follows : 

1. Permanent Custodial care, or 

2. Ungraded class every day, and 

3. No peddling of vegetables under threat of the Child Labor 

Committee. 

Investigation of homes preliminary to the doctor's examination. Children 
examined in school for the ungraded classes and at the office clinics are not 
always accompanied by a parent, hence the family history is not available for 
the doctor's information. Also it is quite true that the mothers are more apt 
to be truthful and explicit at their own firesides than they are among strangers 
in the office. It is often necessary to interview members of the family, school 
teachers, and family physicians before all the information needed for a com- 
plete understanding of the child's mental and physical condition can be 
obtained. 

Following up the doctor's recommendations. Home visits are necessary 
to follow up the examining physician's recommendation. It is necessary to 
analyze the child's environmental conditions, hereditary influences and tem- 
peramental tendencies, as a basis for treatment. For instance, in a case of 
malnutrition we must find the cause in order to correct it. Is the child's- 
condition due to lack of food, poor food, poor cooking, hasty meals, impaired 
digestion, too much candy, decayed teeth, or adenoids? In the case of a. 
choreic child, is chorea due to previous illness, fright, cruel or drunken parents,, 
late hours, excitement, over-stimulation by coffee, eye defect? We must 
know the child and the whole family very well before we can hope to accom- 
plish much. When the school nurses have these same children on their 
records, we work with them. Only workers who have watched the same chil- 
dren for years know the difficulties of maintaining a standard of good health. 
As yet we can deal only with the more immediate cases, but as every child 
examined does not enter an ungraded class, here is a chance for excellent co- 



23 

operation with the visiting teachers of the Public Education Association. 
Provided there were somebody to gather in reports from the co-operating 
visiting teachers, who almost in every instance know the families before the 
children are proposed for ungraded classes, then the recommendations of 
the children not admitted to Ungraded Glasses, could be returned to the 
original visiting teacher, while the advice to those admitted could be followed 
up by the visiting teacher attached to this office. 

Following up children discharged from school. We try to trace children 
who have left ungraded classes, especially those who are discharged at 
sixteen years. This is work requiring much patience and inspiration. On 
the desk beside this report lies a letter from the Charity Organization Society 
promising one more glass eye to Tom Dunn, to equip him for seeking work, 
and beneath it lies a list of "Boys Wanted," cut out of a newspaper ready 
to send to another boy's mother. 

All of these cases prove the need of constant supervision; and in all our 
visiting we must be constantly urging the parents to their responsibility to- 
ward their mentally defective children. This education of the parents, which 
is one of the first principles of our work, should be a field for a much jvider 
propaganda. Every child who has left the ungraded class to go to work 
would probably be working more efficiently and making more money under 
sympathetic "after care." A sort of continued oversight until their needs are 
demonstrated and met would help, beyond a doubt. 

Following up cases reported by the Census Bureau. Children reported by 
the permanent census bureau who have not been brought to this office on 
request must be looked up by the visiting teacher. These are our saddest 
cases. They do not often prove to be children who would be helped by un- 
graded class work, but they frequently need institutional and sometimes 
medical care. 

For example: Little Dennis Kelley, the son of a bankrupt saloon keeper, 
was reported to the office of Classes for the Blind. The visitor from that office 
reported him to us as a mental defective, and our visiting teacher guessed him 
a hopeless idiot, nearly blind, with tuberculosis of the knee. While there was 
money, Dennis had had doctors; when the money went the treatment ceased. 
The father and mother loving him more than the other five children, kept 
him at home in three dark rooms. They could not bear to take this little 
child to the hurried doctors of dispensaries, even if he could have stood 
the strain of visiting three different clinics. Dennis is now in a beautiful 
country hospital growing larger and stronger. His parents, devout Catholics, 
trust him entirely to the Sisters there, while the other five children have more 
of their mother's care, more room and less danger of infection. Such cases 
belong to the lower border of the ungraded class. It is hard to convince the 
parents that no amount of school work could improve the child's mind and 
still harder to persuade them that institutional care is best. 



24 

Social survey of classes or groups of children. The efficacy of visiting in 
routine a whole group or class of children depends largely upon the amount and 
quality of visiting done by the teacher of the ungraded class. Some very 
good teachers do not seem to feel responsible for their scholars after school 
hours, some feel the responsibility, but lack the social spirit. Others without 
visible effort can build up in the families of their pupils a very real spirit of 
gratitude and loyalty to the ungraded class. This is what the visiting teacher 
must supply in the groups where the teacher has not done so; but it takes far 
more time than we have as yet been able to devote to this particular work. 

Ideally there should be visiting teachers for all these branches of work. 
There should also, we think, be a social worker at the office clinics, with plenty 
of time to receive the parents and children, somebody who has attended other 
clinics and knows the horrors of the tedious but necessary waiting. Children 
waiting for a psychological examination should be occupied, and we feel sure 
the results obtained would justify the employment of a visiting teacher for 
this purpose. 

As to the co-operation we have received, by individuals and for individuals, 
it has been very efficient and generous. We thank most heartily all social and 
settlement workers, nurses and volunteer visitors who have contributed largely 
to the successful results of our work, and we hope that we may be of mutual 
help to each other in the future. 

We recommend for the future: enough workers to do for all ungraded 
class children what has been done for a relatively few selected cases this year. 



25 




^ 3 Jg.r»b.Tal 



I- K»o 

;«^ 

JW ( & ~- J^a f^ • 

he^ c/^K J-loSjoiTo-t . 
-VowJ at W. 1 1- C * i- 'e. 

u ^S.«o..- W»»b'.ro.i . 

u VunSu« JJoSb.15-1 ■ 

JWosb.-fo.! 



L.^coli 



s.f.ra.1 



^06 



O «- *-y W y- 



26 

COMBINED STATISTICAL REPORT OF TWO VISITING 
TEACHERS— UNGRADED CLASSES 



No. of Classes from Which 
Children were Visited 


Ungraded 


Not Ungraded 


Total 


Manhattan 

Bronx 

Queens 


75 

12 

30 

9 


28 
1 

16 
1 


103 
13 
46 
10 


Richmond 




Total 


126 


46 


172 



Sum Total. 



No. of school children visited 

No. of children not in school visited. 

Total children visited 



172 

529 
70 



No. of home visits , 

Visits of co-operation (to schools, churches, settlements, etc.) , 



599 

1,058 
697 



Total visits 1,755 



Children taken to clinics and hospitals . 
No. of visits to clinics and hospitals . . . 



42 
78 



27 



VISITS TO EACH CHILP 



CP 

r 
n 

0) 
I 
O 

< 

H 
0) 

> 

A) 

n 
< 

Co 

H 

03 





- N 


Cu •£ 0\ ff) s o> 


u> 





- 


N OJ 4> 


01 (J) S CP <J> 


ro 

o 


K> 


N^o^iN^3 

N 0> ^ 01 (P 


6 








































O 














































OJ 
O 






















































o 
















































01 

o 


















































o 
















































3 




















































o 


















































o 


















































o 

o 


















































o 


















































o 


















































o 


















































5 
o 


















































o 




















































o 




















































9 




















































5> 
o 




















































3 
o 




















































o 
o 




















































ro 
O 




















































t\) 
O 




















































ro 

OJ 

O 




















































IS) 

O 




















































en 

o 




















































o 




















































3 




















































8 





















































28 



SURVEY OF THE RESULTS OF UNGRADED CLASS WORK 

It is the last mentioned field of activity, the social survey, 
which the visiting teacher may well develop. Her function as a 
Social Surveyor of the careers of those children who have left 
the ungraded classes at sixteen years, to enter industry, will be 
of the utmost importance in determining a rational program for the 
care of backward and defective individuals. As far as I know, 
there is nowhere a body of facts of this type upon which action 
may be based. There are persons who inform us on every occasion 
that the class of undesirable citizens is largely recruited from the 
group of backward and defective. Such talk is very largely guess 
work. The most definite piece of work of this kind which deals 
with present day verifiable facts was directed by Miss Walsh, 
my associate. Because of its obvious value and its pregnant 
meaning for the future, I bring it to your attention. 

CAEEERS OF 124 BOYS AND GIRLS DISCHARGED FROM UNGRADED CLASSES 

In an effort to find out what becomes of those children who at sixteen 
years of age leave the ungraded classes, a study of eighty-six boys and thirty- 
eight girls has been made. Children are placed in ungraded classes after 
examination and certification by a physician and psychologist as being unable 
because of mental defect to profit by the work in the regular graded school. 
When children are discharged from an ungraded class a prognosis is made by 
the examiners. The children considered here have been out of school from 
one to six years; the average length of time being two years. The classes 
they attended were among those organized in 1906 when the department of 
ungraded classes was formed. The reason for choosing these older classes 
is obvious. More children have been discharged from them, and they have 
been for a longer time out in the world. The children here considered rep- 
resent the total number discharged on becoming sixteen years of age from 
these ungraded classes. 

P. S. — Lower East Side, Manhattan 8 children 

P. S— Upper " " " 9 

P. S— Lower " " " 8 

P. S.— Upper " " " 9 

P. S.— Lower " " " 12 

P. S.— " West " " 20 

P. S— " East " " 7 

■p cj a a a a n 

P. S— " " " " 9 

P. S — Bronx 10 

P. S. — Ridgewood Section, Brooklyn 12 

P. S— Brooklyn 13 

Total 124 



29 



The teachers of these classes were asked to submit a list of the names 
of children who had been discharged on reaching sixteen years of 
age. They were asked also to furnish any authentic information, not 
"reliable hearsay," covering the following points: kind of employment, 
number of jobs held, wages, number of arrests, commitment to penal institu- 
tions, number of marriages, number of children, and number of deaths. This 
information was checked up and augmented during the last two months by 
the visiting teachers from this department. In most of the cases volunteer 
social workers had done follow-up work in years past. There were, then, 
two reports on all the cases considered, and on many three. 

The facts brought out by the study of these 124 cases are as follows: 

Working 54% 

Cared for at home (some helping) 25% 

In institutions 8.8% 

No information 8.9% 

Dead 2.3% 

Arrested 5% 




30 

The occupations include for the girls, millinery, making of linings, factory 
work, laundry work, etc.; for the boys, truck driving, delivering groceries, 
wood turning, tailoring, etc. 

The findings in this study, as far as the proportion of those who 
are working is concerned, agree with those referred to in a paper by 
Wm. A. Polglase, M. D., Medical Superintendent of the Home for 
Feeble-minded in Lapeer, Michigan. He says, " It has been shown 
that more than 50% of the adults of the higher grades of the men- 
tally defective who have been under training from childhood are 
capable of doing, under intelligent supervision, a sufficient amount 
of work to pay for the actual cost of their support, whether in an 
institution or at home." 

K. Richter (Leipzig) , says : " Would that our master mechanics 
could be brought to understand that pupils sent out from our 
auxiliary schools (schools for mental defectives) are not nearly as 
incompetent as people are wont to believe; in truth they are often 
more capable in practical affairs than boys from the country and 
elsewhere. The work of training auxiliary school apprentices 
pays if the master does not leave the matter entirely in hands of 
his assistants, but looks after the boys personally and bestows 
the necessary patience, kindness, and oversight upon them." He 
has suggested a plan of following the pupils who have left the 
auxiliary schools. Every six years a set of questions is sent out 
to such of these former pupils as can be found. They seek infor- 
mation, especially concerning the person's ability to earn a living. 

Huxley says that life is not alone a "survival of the fittest," 
but a " fitting of as many as possible to survive." How best may 
these handicapped children be helped to survive after they 
have been sent from the ungraded classes out into the world 
to earn a living? Many who have gone out have demonstrated 
that they are worth while. How much more they might have 
accomplished and how much easier their way might have 
been if a system of "watch-care" could have been theirs after 
leaving the classes. There would be a most specific value in some 
scheme of after supervision. For this more visiting teachers are 
urgently needed. Two might well spend all their time in helping 



31 

to conserve these products of the ungraded classes. Some one has 
said the mental defectives are those who, like slag, have fallen 
out of nature's mould as waste material. The scientific treatment 
of waste material is its utilization for the best interests of the 
community. 

We should have during the year 1915 eight additional visiting 
teachers in order to make this statistical and social survey on a 
scale which is warranted by the results of this first year of social 
service in the public schools. 

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 

The recommendations herein set forth may be summarized 
as follows: 

1. The immediate demands of the Department of Ungraded 
Classes are: 

(a) The appointment of at least four physicians, experts in 
nervous and mental diseases. This would in all probability make 
certain the examination of all children proposed by elementary 
school principals; the re-examination of all children in ungraded 
classes; and an intensive study and survey of one school district. 

(b) The appointment of four assistant inspectors of ungraded 
classes. 

(c) The appointment of eight additional visiting teachers in 
order that all children may have what only a few selected cases 
during this year have been given; that a social survey may be 
made of all children who have left ungraded classes. 

(d) Adequate provision for clerical help. Suitable office 
space sufficient to meet the urgent demands of the educational 
clinics. 



32 



REPORT ON OPEN AIR CLASSES 

Mr. William H. Maxwell, 

City Superintendent of Schools, 

Dear Sir: 

I present the following report on open air classes for the year 
1913-14: 

The open air classes this year have been of three types, classes 
for children with tuberculosis; the so-called "anemic" classes, 
which care for children who are subnormal physically or who are 
likely to contract tuberculosis through exposure; and the open 
window classes for normal children. 

Each of these groups differs distinctly in its organization, its 
aims and in the lines along which it is conducted. 

CLASSES FOR TUBERCULOUS CHILDREN 

Under this heading are included those classes for children with 
pulmonary tuberculosis only, as the open air classes for children 
with bone and joint tuberculosis belong more properly to the classes 
for crippled children. I feel very strongly that while it is no sense 
necessary, or even desirable, that classes for crippled children 
should be put under the supervision of the physician in charge of 
the open air classes, it is most desirable that these children should 
receive their instruction in open window classes. A large pro- 
portion of these children are crippled as a result of previous bone 
and joint tuberculosis — -in some classes as many as 40% — and all 
of them because of their physical handicap, get a minimum amount 
of out-of-doors. 

NUMBER OF CASES 

The classes for tuberculous children during the past school year 
cared for 860* cases. These children are ones who are being 

*This does not represent the actual number of children, as owing to trans- 
fers and readmissions there is some duplication. Probably the actual num- 
ber of children is about 15% lower than this. 



33 

treated for pulmonary tuberculosis either at Otisville, the Munici- 
pal Sanitorium for tuberculosis, or the House of Rest, or at one of 
the day camps for tuberculosis in the city. They are situated in 
the following locations: 

Otisville Sanitorium Annex of P. S. 14 Manhattan 

House of Rest, Inwood " " " 52 " 

Ferry Boat, Southfield " " " 14 * 

" " Westfield " " " 12 « 

Middletown " " " 51 " 

" " Rutherford " " " Brooklyn 

Vanderbilt Clinic Roof " " " 141 Manhattan 

East River Homes " " " 158 " 

These classes are conducted entirely out of doors. The 
children on the day camps are in the open air eight hours daily, 
and at Otisville and the House of Rest open air treatment is prac- 
tically continuous 24 hours a day. In all cases the childrln are 
under the direct medical supervision and charge of the nurses and 
physicians connected with the camp or sanitorium. They are on a 
high calory diet in practically all cases, and a special equipment is 
provided, consisting of a cot or bed for the rest hour, and clothing, 
consisting of sleeping bags, sweaters, overshoes, mittens, coats and 
caps. The exact type of equipment varies somewhat with each 
day camp or sanitorium, and is provided either by the institution 
where the day camp is operated, or, as is the case in most instances, 
by a private "auxiliary" or committee. 

ADVANTAGES OF SCHOOLING FOR TUBERCULOUS CHILDREN 

The Board of Education provides only the classroom furnish- 
ings and teachers, and receives the children for as many hours 
daily as in the opinion of the attending physician their physical 
condition permits. These classes, however, are extremely im- 
portant elements in the care of these tuberculous children. 

When day camps were first started, it was extremely difficult 
to get the parents to send the children to the camp during the 
school year. As few of the children had tubercle bacilli in their 
sputum, only a limited number could be excluded from school and 



34 

the treatment would have had to be given up just as the children 
were beginning to make satisfactory progress. The children them- 
selves were restless and felt keenly the loss of their education and 
the lack of definite mental work. Moreover the attendance was 
irregular as there was nothing to hold the children regularly be- 
yond the realization (one can imagine the extent of that in child- 
hood) that it was for their own welfare. Now the children come 
regularly. Attendance has improved; they are happy and con- 
tented and the parents satisfied. 

Moreover the classes are of distinct economic value. A child, 
on account of its illness, will lose very little of its education. While 
in general the rate of progress is not so fast as in the regular 
classes, yet, as the percentage of promotions in the table at the 
end of the section shows, enough progress is made to prevent most 
of the children from losing much ground; and to enable them to 
qualify as wage earners within but a short time of that at which 
they would normally, had they kept their health and continued 
in the regular classes. The importance of this is realized on re- 
calling that in the families of these children, frequently one wage 
earner is already incapacitated because of this disease. 

As most of discharged patients fall into the groups of either 
apparently cured, arrested, or apparently arrested cases, the 
results are of very distinct value. The experience of most 
physicians who have had charge of day camps is that only a 
small percentage of cases in childhood relapse, during the school 
age at any rate (our experience has not yet extended over a 
period sufficiently long to enable us to know how permanently 
the resistance of these children has been raised). This means 
that for a period of some years (let us hope that in most cases 
it is for life), these children are " cured" of a disease, which, in 
most of them, if left to itself, would probably have gone on to a 
slowly progressive and fatal termination. 

EFFECT OF COLD AIR 

The classrooms of these children are kept at out-door tem- 
perature and the cold is not tempered by any heating. A glance 



35 



at the temperature for the winter months in the classrooms on 
some of the day camps and at the Otisville Sanatorium shows that 
the children received not only fresh air, but almost frozen air for 
some months for their treatment. 

Day Camp Temperatures 





December 


January 


February 


March 




Av. 


Min. 


Av. 


Min. 


Av. 


Min. 


Av. 


Min. 


Otisville 


31.6 


16 


23.4 


1 


17.3 


1 


30.4 


17 


Rutherford 


28 


20 


33 


4 


25 


16 


25 


19 


Westfield 


35 


21 


31 


3 


24 





34 


18 


Southfield 


44 


33 


32 


15 


40 


21 


49 


30 



Interestingly enough these months are those of their greatest 
improvement. While this would not justify a statement that 
fresh air is a valuable therapeutic agent in direct proportion to the 
lowness of its temperature, yet it is a fact that in tuberculosis 
cool and cold weather raises both the blood pressure, which is 
abnormally lowered by the tuberculous poison, and also the re- 
sistance of the individual; while hot weather, especially when 
associated with considerable humidity, lowers the general condi- 
tion of the patient. The knowledge of this fact has been made 
use of during the past two summers, and a number of these tuber- 
culous children have been taken to summer camps in the 
mountains. 

One of the most successful of these summer camps has been 
organized, and is being conducted, through the assistance of 
interested private individuals, by one of the teachers of the classes 
for tuberculous children, and here she takes care during the sum- 
mer vacation of the youngsters she teaches in the winter time. 
The improvement in the children in the summer is very gratifying, 
and from being a time of the year when they barely held their own 
or slipped backward a little, it is now a period of great gain. 



36 



Sanitorium or 
Day Camp 



Register 6-30-13 . 

Discharged 

Admitted 

Register 6-30-14. 

Length of stay : 

Came once 

2— 29 days 

30 days and over. 



Reasons for discharge : 

To work 

To school 

To sanitorium or hos- 
pital 

To other day camps. . . 
Too sick to attend. . . . 

Not tuberculous 

Other causes 



Statistical Tables Tuberculous Classes 



Otisville 



Any garden (?) 

Sewing, weaving, can- 
ing, etc 

No. hrs. daily in school 

Any exceptions 

No. hrs. daily in camp. 
Length of rest hour. . . 

Per cent, attendance 

school days 

Seven days a week. . . 
Summer vacation. . . . 



Per cent, promotions: 

6-30-13 

1-31-14 

6-30-14 



89 
83 
80 
86 





3 

80 





82 

1 





Yes 

Yes 

4 

No 

24 

Varies 



98 
100 



90 
68 



House 

of 
Rest 



Ruther- 
ford 



14 






82 
74 
66 

72(?) 



1 

4 

69 



4 
46 

7 
2 
2 

13 

No 

Yes 
31 

Yes 
8 
H 



83. 
76 
81 



85 
83 
82 



South- 
field 



37 
42 
40 
35 



15 

8 

19 




24 

14 


1 
3 

Yes 

Yes 

3 
Yes 

8 

li 



West- 
field 



73 

56 
80 



46 
57 
47 
36 





8 
50 




21 

25 



1 


10 

Yes 

Yes 
4 

No 
9 
1 



81 
78 
61 



65 
70 
70 



Van- 

derbilt 

Roof 



East 
River 
Homes 



49 
80 
70 
39 



10 
20 
50 



2 
13 

17 
1 
5 

8 
34 

Yes 

Yes 
3-4 

No 
8 
2 



85 
80 
85 



80 
67 
62 



25 

26 
41 
40 




1 

39 





24 

1 

1 



Yes 

Yes 

5 

No 



i 



60 



92 
89 

84 



37 



ANEMIC CLASSES 

In the classes for tuberculous children we saw a type of class 
which was associated with an enterprise whose aims were curative. 
The anemic class stands for both prevention and cure — prevention 
of the disease which the classes for tuberculous children were orga- 
nized to aid in combating, and as an aid in restoring to health 
those children whose physical condition seems distinctly below 
the normal standard. 

At the close of this year there are 39 anemic classes connected 
with the following schools : 

SCHOOLS HAVING ANEMIC CLASSES 

Manhattan 12, 17, 21, 33 (2 classes), 51 (2 classes), 61, 65B, 84, ^9, 92, 
95, 107, 110, 179, 192. 

Brooklyn 5, 8, 30, 34, 85, 91, 150, 162 (3 classes), 168, 173 (2 classes), 174, 
175. 

Bronx 4, 45, 46. 

Queens 7, 90, 92. 

Richmond 13. 

These classes are situated, with one or two exceptions, on 
school property and the classes are under the medical supervision 
of a physician officially connected with the educational system. 
The classes are limited to 25 children, and in a number of cases the 
register is held somewhat lower. This is deemed necessary, on 
account of the educational difficulties connected with teaching 
so many grades. 

Most of these classes are indoors, in classrooms of more than 
average size, which have the windows pivoted. Some have roofs 
or balconies in connection with them which may be used in favor- 
able weather. Three or four have only out-door classrooms, and 
have to find some makeshift quarters when the weather is too 
severe or stormy to permit being out-of-doors. This is occasionally 
necessary, as the present equipment does not protect adequately 
against severe cold. Moreover when children come to school in 



38 

wet clothing, as they sometimes do in a cold winter rain, it is not 
possible to have them sit out in the raw atmosphere in their wet 
clothes. 

TEMPERATURE OF CLASS ROOMS 

Some heat is permitted in the class rooms when necessary to 
overcome unduly low temperature or excessive dampness. There 
is a distinctly rational use for it in the latter condition, as cold 
moist air radiates body heat much quicker than cold dry air. 
Thus a temperature of 32 degrees F. with much moisture will 
chill a child much more quickly than one of 20 to 25 degrees with 
little moisture. The temperature rarely goes below 35 to 30 degrees 
F. in these class rooms. 

KIND AND SITUATION OF OPEN AIR CLASS ROOMS 

A general tendency throughout the country seems to be to 
place anemic children entirely out of doors. With the changeable 
climate of New York City, and the extremely raw weather in 
winter, I am distinctly in favor of keeping the classes within build- 
ings. Apart from that, to get an out-door or roof structure of 
sufficient rigidity to insure any permanency or stability requires a 
very considerable expenditure. Even then it is difficult so to 
construct such shelters as to render them satisfactory in both cold 
and warm weather, and in New York City we have, during the 
school year, extremes in temperature. In the cold weather it is 
desirable to have a shelter so arranged as to permit the sides being 
adjusted to keep out all wind, with the top so constructed that it 
may roll back completely, thus allowing a maximum of sunshine 
on the children and a minimum of air movement. Such a con- 
dition approaches the ideal for cold weather. 

On the other hand, in warm weather the sides need to be raised 
as much as possible to permit a maximum air movement, and even 
under such conditions, if a double roof with an intervening air 
space is not present, the temperature is apt to become very high 
under the shelter. 

It is difficult to construct a type of shelter which will satis- 
factorily meet both of these requirements. One made of canvas 



39 

may be constructed which will give moderate satisfaction in sum- 
mer. In winter, however, too much air can get through the joints 
on windy days, and besides there is danger, if the weather turns 
cold after a heavy rain, of the canvas freezing and being ripped into 
shreds if a high wind follows. This has been the fate of one or 
two such structures already in use, in the storms of last winter. 
One other objection to roof structure, and in my mind a serious 
one, is the physical strain to which the children are subjected 
when the class is put on the roof of the school building. To reach 
the roof of one of the newer school buildings necessitates a climb 
of five or six flights of stairs. This climb has to be made twice 
daily by the children in the anemic classes so situated. The 
anemic classes contain children from the lower grades as well as 
the upper, and they are children in poor physical condition. I 
think the expenditure of effort needed to climb these stairs is 
distinctly undesirable. % 

In addition, the placing of any children with cardiac disease 
in classes so situated is absolutely contraindicated. Personally, 
I am more in favor of a class situated on about the third floor in a 
corner room with preferably an easterly and southerly exposure. 
This gives a maximum of sunlight in winter and the heat and glare 
of the sun in hot weather can be tempered by shades. Of course, 
it is desirable in placing a class on the third floor to be assured that 
the buildings opposite are not so high as to cut off the sunlight 
during some of the winter months when the sun's angle with the 
horizon is rather small. 

PROPER EQUIPMENT OF ROOMS AND CLOTHING OF CHILDREN 

Besides, as stated before, the present equipment does not pro- 
tect adequately against very low temperature, and one that would 
do so is too expensive. To protect children properly against extreme 
cold or wind, two features are necessary in the equipment which are 
lacking in that of the anemic classes in the public schools. The 
first of these is a coat or sweater of some warm material which is 
a good non-conductor. One of the best materials for these gar- 
ments is angora wool. It combines the minimum of weight with 



40 • 

the maximum of warmth. As it is loosely woven it is desirable 
to provide over it a garment of closely woven kahki-like material 
which is so made as to be practically wind-proof. Garments such 
as these are in use in some of the open-air classes in the private 
schools in New York City, and have proved satisfactory. The 
cost of these is about $8.00 greater than that of the present equip- 
ment, and as the angora sweaters are all wool they require an ex- 
pensive method of cleaning to prevent matting and shrinkage. 
The equipment as supplied by the Board of Education, together 
with the approximate cost of each article, is as follows : 

Moulthrop chairs, at $5 .50 each 

Folding cots at 2 .00 " 

Sleeping bags, at 4 .50 " 

Sweaters, at 1 .25 " 

Caps, at 25 " 

Overshoes, at 2 .25 a pair 

Mittens, at 20 " 

$15.95 
RESULTS ON PHYSICAL CONDITION 

The effect of these classes on the physical condition of the chil- 
dren has already been set forth in the detailed reports of the care- 
ful studies made during the past three years, and has been incor- 
porated in your annual reports of 1911-12-13. 

A few points, however, are worthy of mention outside of the 
data contained in the appended table. One of these is the slight 
influence of feeding this year on the gain in weight. 

In Manhattan, in six classes where feeding was given, the 
average gain was 2.7 lbs., while the average gain in eight where no 
feeding was given was 3.3 lbs. The schools in all the other bor- 
oughs gave feeding, with the exception of P. S. No. 4, in the Bronx, 
but the average of these schools which did not include a substantial 
lunch, but merely milk, cocoa, crackers, etc., was 2.9 lbs. In the 
other five schools, four in Brooklyn and one in Richmond, where a 
substantial lunch was given in addition, the average gain was 5.8 
lbs. The following menu, however, which was used at P. S. No. 



41 

150, Brooklyn, is much greater than could be introduced into 
fresh air classes in general. 

10 A. M., cereal with milk and sugar or cocoa with crackers. 

12 Noon, thick soup with meat, fish or eggs. Cocoa, bread. Sometimes 
fruit. 

2:15 P. M., milk with crackers. 

The daily cost is about 123^ cents per capita, of which the chil- 
dren pay only about y z . In Richmond the Parents Association of 
P. S. No. 13 contributed $400 last year for food and clothing for 
these children. In Manhattan the feeding was practically self 
supporting. In general, the results this year seem to bear out 
the impression our previous studies gave us that the addition of 
milk and crackers or some light form of nourishment in the morn- 
ing or afternoon, or both, seems to have but little effect upon the 
general progress of these children, and not very much up<5H the 
weight. 

The improvement in scholarship is also very encouraging. 
Many children made normal progress who previously had failed. 
Over 50 advanced more rapidly than the normal rate, though no 
attempt was made to goad the children to additional effort, and 
children are always encouraged to rest whenever they feel tired. 
Of course it is difficult to determine how much of the improvement 
in scholarship is due to gain in health and ability to concentrate 
and work, and how much is due to the additional individual atten- 
tion these pupils may receive. 

The average attendance of these classes is excellent, considering 
that these are children whose physical conditions renders them 
more likely than the majority of those in school to contract illness. 
In most cases the attendance approximates closely to that of the 
school as a whole. 

PERMANENCY OF RESULTS 

Of necessity it occurs at times to all of us who are working 
in any branch of public health service, to wonder whether what we 



42 

accomplish is really worth the effort expended, and whether our 
results are anything more than temporary. 

The endeavor to get some data on this question, led me to 
gather together those children whom I could, who had been dis- 
charged from the anemic class at P. S. No. 21, Manhattan, where, 
on account of the length of time the class had been in operation, 
I could get the greatest number of cases. Thirty-five of these 
discharged cases were still in the school. They had been out of 
the class from one to three years. Superficial examination 
showed nearly all of them to be in good physical condition. Their 
color was good and they carried themselves as if they had plenty 
of reserve energy and good physical tone. 

Examination showed that they had gained on an average of 
16 pounds in weight since leaving the class, and that their average 
hemoglobin was 90 per cent. Compare this with 72 to 77 per 
cent., the averages of the class on admission. Their hemoglobin 
had increased on an average of 7.8 per cent. Only eight out of 
thirty-five had lost in hemoglobin, and of these in six cases it was 
only from 1 to 5 per cent. Only eight showed a hemoglobin 
below 85 per cent, and none below 81 per cent. 

In a word, the findings encouragingly lead us to the conclusion 
that we are engaged in a work that is of distinct benefit to the 
children, and one in which the results, so far as can be determined 
from a very limited number of cases, show a surprising degree of 
permanency. 

NEED FOR MORE ANEMIC CLASSES 

The need for additional classes for anemic children is great, 
especially in certain localities. This is particularly true of that 
great section of the East Side in Manhattan, from Delancey Street, 
north, to the Harlem River, and bounded on the east by the Bowery 
and Third Avenue. In this immense and over-crowded area 
there is only one anemic class. Requests have been made in the 
Budget for funds for additional classes in this district and it cannot 
be too strongly urged that they be granted. 



43 





-d 


c 


co . 


> 


I 

o 












CO 

CO 






+3 








■r" . co 


Jg 0) 

03 72 


^ „, 


d 


Ih 


s 




CEO 


O 03 
r- CO t-H 

55 o 


o 

J-l 

• cu 


03 

> 

73 


ts£- 
. . . o 

-u -4-3 -u b 


a 




Compariso 

Progress P 

Entering 


03 . 


vemen 
vemen 
vemen 
same, 
etter p 
ame 


d o d 




la.s 

<*> c! 5r! 


CU 


TO jd 
ft ^ 

-2 a 

03 rH 
CD O 

ft d 


veme 

impr 
veme 




1 S^ 


o 

rv d 

a* 


O O O -g -Q m 

Hljgg 


o „, o 

^ cu U 

ft d ft 

a § a 






I— I cc 


I-H 




r-l r-H r-H <C lO lO • 1— 1 COhH 




Stf 
















<*> drS 

31 ST! 
CD 2 03 


00-* 


CO 




CN 00 -* rt< HH -CO i-H CO • 

1— 1 


















0) 












T3 
03 

rH 


ooo 


CN 




MHtOOO -OS O lON 




'OT3 


T— 1 1-H 


T_l 




CO-*i-HCNCN -1-H CN 1-H r-1 




.drd 
£-d 


o 
























cc 


More 

than 

Grade 














TfH 1— 1 


CN 




IC CO "tJH • • • CN CM rHCO 




6 












"3 


da 


3 




3 3 3 3 3 


_fl 3 3 






£0 
















W > 


co 


00 




no co i— i r^- io 


CM OS N 






oo 


lO 




ooio-tf »ooo 


CO ■* N 






«J 


1-H 


i-H 




r-H r-H 


Tl 






a 


GO „ 








CO „ ^ 




.'3 


-D- 








dl " 




£0 


~H 














TJH 




HinoiH 


CO 00 CM 




CO 


o 




CO OO CN CM 


CO -tf Tt<CO 




«< 


CO CM 


T^ 




IM-^CO i-H CO 


^ co coco 






T3 • 
8 "9 








-O O 












o 


o 

rH 
















d " 












u-( 












sh 55 








03 - 














4-5 


















TO^ 








•T« 


M 


03 
















rd 








: i-h 




CD 










^ 








s a 








CO ~~*^ 


• 1 










bC 

d 

CD 
CU 


jo o 

o J2 

u 3 
~ o 

rM *H 

a ^ 








<2 d 

go; 


L, 






o co 


't3 Ct 

. d^ 


l 








P=1 








~ co 
13 co ^ 
o Jo 






T3\ 

d >o 

03— 1 


• sh s d t_ 

• <U 03> 










od3 


03 

d 
o 




^•gocddds^dS^dl^d 
3^ooo2 H o£«s^° 






si 


£ 






CU , 

. M A £ 












Per 

centa 

of 

Atte: 

danc 


b- OS 


o 




CO NrHCNO ON »d 00 




OS CXI 


OS 




00 OOOiOiN OS 00 00 00 














_ d , 








to SI? 




. 0"" 1 i d 


Hln 






rtln O v_^ 




O O jo cu o 


•* t^ 


OS 




CM 0000xJ<CO d ^ "* f 
iO 00 tH CD CO R O 00 CM 




>7« 5> ft - .^ 


00 00 


t^ 






1—1 1-H 


1-H 




r-H 1— 1 T— 1 i— 1 hnCM »-h i-h 




d 












6 -a &g 












H CO 


o 




OS CM tJH Tfi ■* tJ< CO CM O 




t?-:d *5 » 


CM CN 


CM 




rti iO CN CN (N CM CN CN CN 




u - 














d • ■ 








'-^ ^ 










,_, 


03 • • 








"o o 










o 
o 


"e8 '. '. 








CN J1 


PQ : 








A 


rd CM 1> 


»—l 




CO iHrHlOTft CNlO N C5 




o 


d 1— 1 1-H 


CN 




CO iO CD CO 00 OS C5 O t>- 




02 


03 






* -> ^ ^ 








S 





























44 



*3J3 

d'EO 

"S s-g 

03 a; Ih 

Cu B a* 

a^ 

o Bra 



> 




ft 


0. 


a 


a 



£2 

g a 

0"d 

«3^3 



0Q 3 T3 



O 



'a 



I lO 00 C3 



<N<M CO rH 



«1 



INH N^ 



P 
.'c3 

' > 



1OC0 Tt< CO 



00 



co 



CD 
i-H O 



p s 

s _a 

P 

m § «8 



2-p 



h o 



73 



:3 <*= P S 



fl h q; a 
o>rp -vPS; 

p 3 M s; 

on S, 



a 12 "5 g 

*=:p o:p p 
Dh5; o a 3 

* <^ ^ 

T? 03 






is- 



° a 



, of" 3 

I g 03 
1 <S o 






'.M 



■-a 

■ B 

■ c3 

; 03 

. o 



o g»5J B 



CB; 



pf"p 



- ^ © • 3 

lif p &g==1 g 

03 rB P B 03 ^3 03 

a £ s 



45 I „, 

,tlD c< 03 

£p°So3 



<tjT3 



^h el , 

O O m a; O 

o:q u ffl 



p 

6 - s 





ID 


coco 

<N CM 


O iO 
<N CO 


P 








o 


id 


00-# 

co 


lO T— 1 

00 Ci 



o 
o 
-a 



S »S o 1 ^ 



CQ 



45 



-a 


o 




-tj 










■p* m 








T 1 . OQ 


03 






* S^ 


s 






fl'CQ 


g o« 




-+-J 


g^ bfi 


> m > 

P"S © 

a O Ph 

a^ a 


Compari 

Progress 

Enterin 


a as 
£ a£ 

a go 

a §^ 




£ co<! 


bfi 










Pj 


<P_S 03 


CO OOrH 


co 
CNCO i-H 










2 fl 


0) 

o3 
f-t 


H t^O 


coi> co 


1 — 1 ^ 
OT3 


<M i-l<N 


tHi-H <m 


2-Q 


o 
















COq 


<v - o 

53 §T3 
° 2 o3 










O I— 1 T— 1 


Ot-H 


6 








g 




T 


T3 


'3 


" H "ej"* 


a O 


^o 


to 


e. 

a 


o 

0/ 


K > 


00 


(- 


t-. 


oo 


iO c 


o 


<J 


-I £ ' 


'£ 


fc 


,0 

'53 


8 « 8 

-O. -3-Q 


s s 


„ % 


£0 








Ol 




^H 


<1 


<M £< <M 


1-H IM 


** . 






i 

M 
o 

03 








(=1 

03 
















Ol 








(M 


03 


03 


of 




bfi 




T3 


03 


E-l 

03 


c3 e<i 


g 




a 


13 


M 


^--i 


t3 




03 


03 


o 

03 


g « 

11 


03 




o 


O 

a 

03 

03 


O 

Pi 

03 




oS«o 


j^j* 


r^co 




SI 


§ 


® 1 -> 








. bD rj « 








Per 

centa 

of 

Attei 
danc 


-<#i> cb 


©CO 


CO 


05 oo oo 


i>oc 


oo 








— < a , 


c-* 






. o-" i Ct 








O O ro a; o 


O00 


ooc 


00 


jr-Q rt CVI3 


oooo =^ 
1—1 1—1 


toe 

T— 


I— 1 

1—1 


fl 








JU , T3 








OT3 bD ^ 


I>cO (M 


ooc 


■* 




(M<M (N 


i-l(N 


<N 


Q - 










CO 








T3 ■ 












• 


o 


— ^ 








o • 


o 
o 

CO 


"So g ^ ^ 

_S 43 u 


03 

8 § 


a co 

rO. 1-1 

o 






osQ ffl 






Q? 




s 





OPEN WINDOW CLASSES FOR NORMAL CHILDREN 

It had seemed to me on visiting schools in the springtime that 
the children in the regular classes were in poorer physical condition 
than in the fall. Many teachers complained of being exhausted 
at the close of the school day and in poor health at the end of the 
year. A considerable number of these teachers ascribed their 
condition to the artificial methods of ventilation employed. 

Studies of air conditions in the class rooms revealed the fact 
that in most of them as measured by present ventilating standards 
they were very good. Yet the fact remained that teachers and 
children seemed to become "run down" during the winter, while 
children already subnormal physically improved in the fresh air 
classes for anemic children, and that the teachers of these classes 
reported themselves in much better condition at the end of the 
school year than prior to taking the classes. 

On this account, and because of the success of the open-window 
class for normal children at P. S. No. 9, Manhattan, and because 
of the interest of teachers in the movement and the impossibility 
of providing anemic classes for the many applicants for them, the 
organization of open-window classes in considerable numbers was 
undertaken. 

Suggestions, made about the end of the first term, to start such 
classes were received with approval by some principals and district 
superintendents, and the movement was taken up with enthusiasm. 
Classes of this type were given to teachers who desired to teach 
in the open air. During February and March classes were rapidly 
organized, so that for a good part of last term there were ninety 
such classes situated in the following schools in Manhattan : 

No. 



3 


2 Classes 


(E) 


6 


1 


a 


» 


9 


1 


u 


Regular Grade 


12 


9 


« 


ft <( 


14 


1 


ft 


E 


18 


2 


ft 


Regular 


19 


7 


« 


« 


50 


2 


ft 


a 



47 



No. 

a 


53 
54 


1 Classes 
1 


Regular 

a 


a 
a 


59 
70 


8 
3 


a 
u 


tt 
u 


(incl. kind.) 


it 
a 


73 

76 


12 
3 


u 
u 


a 

u 


and 1 C class. 1 Ungraded 


a 


77 


2 


a 


a 




a 
tt 


84 
88 


14 
1 


it 
a 


tt 
it 


and 2 E classes 


tt 


96P 


4 


it 


a 




tt 


96G 


2 


a 


a 




it 


104 


1 


tt 


tt 




a 


116 


2 


a 


a 




it 


122 


2 


a 


a 




it 


135 


3 


a 


It 




tt 


158 


1 


a 


E 




tt 
it 
it 


179 
183 
45 (Bronx' 


1 
4 
1 


a 
a 
a 


Regular 

: 



These classes were conducted like ordinary classes, except 
that the classrooms were cut out of the ventilating system, and 
ventilation was carried out by means of open windows. This 
gave, during the winter, a lower temperature, greater humidity, 
and greater air movement, as well as that intangible quantity, 
"fresh air." The classroom temperature was kept between 
50 and 60 degrees F. when the outside temperature was not higher, 
and 50 degrees F. was considered the minimum temperature. 
Heat was permitted to overcome unduly low temperatures and 
"rawness" (excessive humidity). Children were allowed to wear 
their own wraps and hats when they desired, but no equipment 
was provided. In some classes feeding was given at the desire of 
teachers or principals. This was almost entirely self-supporting. 
It consisted either of food, such as sandwiches, brought by the 
children, with or without milk, or else milk and crackers, procured 
by the teacher and for which the children paid. The average cost 
when milk was procured by the teacher was about ten cents per 
capita per week. 

In all cases the consents of the parents to put their children 
into classes so conducted were obtained. In some classes the 



48 

children were weighed. As this was not general, and was done 
in most cases on outside scales with the first weight in winter 
clothing and the last in summer clothing, no attempt has been 
made to analyze these data. In fact, the classes have been 
organized too short a time to permit of any definite conclusions 
being drawn. 

IMPRESSIONS OF TEACHERS OF OPEN-WINDOW CLASSES 

The impressions of the teachers, however, are interesting, and 
there is sufficient unanimity of opinion in a large number of cases 
to be suggestive. Of course, as in any movement which is taken 
up in a burst of enthusiasm, there was bound to be some reaction. 
However, only twelve of the ninety teachers had any decided 
objections to the classes, and it is worthy of note that five of these 
were from one school. All these five objected on the ground that 
they thought the children too poorly clad, and required feeding 
which was not given. Two others objected on account of throat 
or ear trouble. Three on account of cold. This was due to un- 
suitable rooms, either northern exposure or drafts. One objected 
to the noise. As this same noise must be present in all the class- 
rooms in that wing of the building during at least two months of 
the school year when the windows are open, it would suggest that 
some decided action might be desirable to reduce the amount of 
noise, if possible, in the neighborhood of that particular school 
building. 

A good deal of complaint came at first on damp days particu- 
larly before some of the teachers realized that they could turn on 
the heat if they desired. Advice as to reducing air circulation 
and raising temperature on such days reduced such complaints to a 
minimum. 

Outside of this the children seemed to notice the cold very 
little. Even when their hands felt cold to the touch they asserted 
that they were comfortable, and there were only occasional com- 
plaints on a damp day if there was a draft across the floor on their 
feet. 



49 

A few reports from some of the teachers who found the classes 
satisfactory may be of interest. In the first place there were 
fifty-eight teachers who expressed themselves as of the opinion 
that the classes had had a beneficial effect on either themselves 
or the children. In nearly all these cases they agreed that the 
children were less listless, more energetic, and before long looked 
better. Some teachers thought that some particularly sickly- 
looking children improved very markedly. The following reports 
are of especial interest: 

The teacher of one class which was started the first of January reports: 
"Children very much brighter, more active, more responsive. Self, very 
much stronger, appetite improved. Never feel so tired and exhausted at the 
end of the day as I did formerly. Would not wish to give up open window 
class under any circumstances while possible to keep it." 

Another states, "For the past few years I have been troubled with tonsi- 
litis. This year, not at all. The effect upon some of the children has been 
very marked. A few of my children were out a great deal last term on account 
of coughs and colds. Very rarely have the children had colds this term, with 
the same class." 

Another, "I have gained about 20 pounds, due in part to the fresh air. 
I am not nearly so fatigued at the end of the day. I have been free from 
colds." 

Still another, "have kept normal weight, whereas other years have found 
me considerably less at end of term." 

A teacher of one of the ungraded classes reports for herself a "gain of one 
inch in chest measurement, could eat four meals a day, and sleep better. I 
gained six pounds very soon. Felt less nervous, had better control of class. 
They were less restless, less apathetic, cried out for 'air' if I forgot it for a 
moment." 

A 2B teacher says: "The parents were enthusiastic about their children's 
improved health. It showed in rosier cheeks and increased appetites. Good 
effect on class and teacher." 

Another second year teacher states: "The open air had a very beneficial 
effect on the children, both physically and mentally. As for myself, I have 
never been in better condition at the end of June." 

The teacher of a special E class reports: "I belive this sort of a class has 
been very beneficial to the children of this special class. They seem to study 
with more energy than other special classes I have had." 



50 



SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGEMENT OF OPEN-WINDOW CLASSES 

For the benefit of those who may be planning to take up this 
type of work, perhaps some of the following suggestions, based 
on our experience during the past year, may prove of some help. 

1. That room is preferable for this type of a class which has 
windows on two sides so as to insure open windows on at least one 
side, if on account of high winds or a driving storm they have to 
be closed on the other. Rooms with sliding doors such as those 
which form parts of assembly rooms are not satisfactory. The 
doors do not fit closely together and this, together with the venti- 
lator above, creates too much of a draft. 

2. A room with south or east exposure gives best results, as 
this room is the warmest in winter time. Rooms with a northern 
exposure, particularly those rooms in which it is difficult to keep 
the temperature at a comfortable point in cold weather with the 
windows closed are bound to give dissatisfaction. 

3. A minimum of 50 degrees F. seems to yield the best results, 
as under ordinary conditions children do not feel cold at this tem- 
perature. On some cold raw days without sun, the temperature 
will need to be higher, probably over 55 degrees. It is well to 
assume that shivering on the part of any child indicates that the 
child is not warm enough. 

4. In order that the children with their extra wraps may not 
be overheated, the temperature should not be allowed to go above 
58 to 60 degrees, unless the outside temperature is so high as to 
render this impossible. As an aid to teachers in watching tem- 
peratures, it is suggested that the red marking on the new ther- 
mometers in the school rooms might be adjusted in classrooms of 
this type so as to point to 50 and 58 degrees, instead of 60 and 68 
degrees, as in the ordinary classrooms. 

5. The children and teachers will feel more comfortable if the 
doors and the transoms are kept closed. It is necessary that the 
tramsoms should fit tight and not be warped, as otherwise dis- 
tinct drafts are apt to ensue. There are three conditions under 
which exceptions might be desirable. 



51 

a. If in raw severe weather it should be impossible to keep the 
temperature of the room about 50, even with plenty of heat, then 
if the children complain of cold the windows might have to be 
closed. Under these circumstances the doors and transoms should 
be kept open to insure sufficient ventilation. 

b. If the children come to school with their clothing soaking 
wet, it is desirable that the room be conducted as a closed classroom 
until their clothing is dry, unless the temperature with the windows 
open is about 65 degrees or higher. 

c. As we believe in these classes some of the benefits are obtained 
by preventing overheating, it is desirable in warmer weather, if, 
even with the heat off, the temperature goes above 70 degrees, 
that the transoms or doors, or both, should be kept open to insure 
better air circulation, and consequently better radiation of body 
heat. 

6. It is desirable to have it understood that it is necessary 
to have some of the windows in the room open both top and bottom 
to insure proper ventilation, as there is a tendency on raw days 
for some teachers to keep all the bottom sashes closed. In some 
cases, if opening lower sashes makes too great a breeze on the heads 
of the children near them, this can be avoided by tacking heavy 
unbleached muslin along the lower part of the window frame, or 
if a manual training class exists in the school, by having a board 
made to fit across the opening in a manner somewhat similar to 
that of some of the commercial ventilators now on the market. 

7. The heat required to maintain the temperature at approxi- 
mately 50 to 55 degrees, should be obtained preferably by a little 
heat from each radiator, rather than by all from one radiator, so 
as to prevent any child sitting near a radiator from being over- 
heated. This is practicable, as in most classrooms the radiators 
have valves which can be controlled by the teachers. All children 
should be urged to wear sweaters if they can obtain them. They 
should be allowed to put on wraps or overcoats if they feel the need 
of them. Children with catarrh or running ears or whose medical 
card shows adenoids should be placed on that side of the room 



52 

away from the open window. Those susceptible to catarrh or 
those near windows should be encouraged to wear caps, regardless 
of appearance. 

8. At that time of the year, particularly in the spring, when it 
is said that " all rooms are open-window rooms," children should 
not be allowed to dress more warmly than in an ordinary classroom. 
Unless prevented by the teacher, many children will keep on coats 
or sweaters on days when the temperature is well over 70 degrees 
in the classroom. To children so dressed there is serious danger'of 
overheating, with the attending depressing physical effects which 
the classes are endeavoring to counteract. 

9. It is advisable that teachers dress appropriately. A thin 
wash waist, which is comfortable in a hot steam-heated apartment, 
is not sufficient for such a room, and unless teachers wear flannel 
waists or sweaters they will want to keep the temperature too warm 
for the more warmly clad children. There is a tendency, I think, 
for most of us to forget that, except in cases of extreme poverty, 
the average public school children who come from homes where 
there is no heating plant are accumstomed to dress very much 
more warmly than those of us who live in steam-heated apart- 
ments, where the temperature nearly always tends to be too high. 

10. Physical exercise should be more frequent than in the regu- 
lar room, emphasizing deep breathing, respiratory and circulatory 
movements. 

11. It is not desirable, if pupils show unusual mental alertness 
as a result of the open air, that they should be overtaxed. Any 
tendency to turn classes of this kind into rapid advancement 
classes should be discouraged. 

Our short experience with this type of class indicates that they 
are going to prove distinctly helpful in bettering the physical con- 
dition of both children and teachers. I think they may be made of 
especial value in those over-crowded schools in which the "anemic 
classes" are needed, but in which there is no available room. 
These schools have frequently several classes of the same grade. I 



53 

believe that half a loaf is better than none, and that while we cannot 
obtain the rest and the special routine of an anemic class, yet if we 
can have one open-window room to the grade, where several classes 
to the grade exist and can place in this room a classful of those 
children whose physical condition seems poorest, we are going to 
improve their general health to a considerable degree. 

PROBLEMS OF VENTILATION 

Probably one of the most important effects of the fresh air 
classes is the aid they have been in producing distinctly new view 
points in considering the problems of ventilation. 

Whereas heretofore the standards of adequate and healthful 
ventilation have been based on physical and chemical conditions 
of the atmosphere, there is a tendency to substitute at least in 
part for them a physiological standard, based on the effects of the 
surroundings on the individual. Whereas heretofore air conditions 
had to be healthful because they conformed to certain arbitrary 
standards, in the future, air conditions will probably be considered 
good, because in them, as the result of observation, it has been 
concluded that individuals keep most healthy. 

That open window methods of ventilation will be the only 
ones under which healthful conditions can be obtained; that 
modern scientific investigation will not discover in-door conditions 
which shall be such as to keep the individual's condition at the 
optimum, I do not believe. Civilization, which demands that 
we spend a good part of time in doors, will also demand that we 
spend that time both healthfully and comfortably, and will de- 
mand that we do not have to be personally concerned in the details 
of ventilation necessary to make us so. However, open window 
methods and the results which they have accomplished have been 
an important factor in putting us on the road towards something 
better in indoor living for large groups of individuals, than any- 
thing we have heretofore known. 

In conclusion, I wish to express my deepest appreciation of the 
courtesy and assistance received from all members of the school 



54 

system with which I have come in contact, from the Committee 
on the Prevention of Tuberculosis, from the Bureau of Child 
Hygiene, Department of Health, and from the physicians in charge 
of the various tuberculosis day camps. Without the assistance 
of all of these my work and this report could have been very 
inadequately rendered. 

Respectfully submitted, 

I. OGDEN WOODRUFF, 

Medical Inspector Open Air Classes. 



55 

CLASSES FOR BLIND CHILDREN 

New York, July 14, 1914 
Mr. William H. Maxwell, 

City Superintendent of Schools, 

Dear Sir: 

I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the Classes for 
Blind Children for the year ending July 31, 1914: 

The work for blind children suffered a severe loss through the 
death, on November 17, 1913, of Miss Gertrude E. Bingham, the 
first Inspector and organizer of this department in the^public 
schools of New York City. By her untiring efforts and deep devo- 
tion such successful results had been obtained as to unquestionably 
prove the wisdom of educating blind children side by side with 
their sighted brothers and sisters. Following along the lines 
which she had so wisely marked out, the work has steadily pro- 
gressed during the past year. 

STATISTICS 

Register of Pupils— 1913-14: 

Manhattan 101 

Brooklyn 68 

The Bronx 13 

Queens 12 

Total 194 

Number of pupils discharged during the year: 

Graduated 2 

Transferred to an ungraded class 1 

Transferred to regular classes 2 

Moved out of the city 

Admitted to homes for the blind 2 

Over age and left school to go to work 6 



Died. 



Total. 



2 



19 



56 

Number of pupils admitted during the year: 

Totally blind 16 

With defective vision 28 

Total 44 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

A class for blind children was opened in Public School 136, 
Brooklyn, in April, 1914. 

The enrollment of the class for blind children in Public School 
17, Manhattan, having increased to 18, an additional class was 
established in that school on May 4, 1914, for the remainder of 
the term. A substitute teacher was employed to assist the regu- 
lar teacher of the blind, who had supervision of both classes. 
The pupils in this additional class will be transferred to Public 
School 44, Manhattan, where a class for blind children will be 
opened September 14, 1914. 

The blind children in the elementary schools have made gratify- 
ing progress, in several cases standing at the head of their respec- 
tive classes. 

HIGH SCHOOLS 

In February, 1913, three blind pupils, two boys and a girl, 
were graduated from elementary schools. One boy was admitted 
to the Boys' High School, Brooklyn, and the other to the High 
School of Commerce, Manhattan. The girl could not afford to 
attend high school at this time and secured work at the New York 
Association for the Blind, but expects to enter Washington Irving 
High School in September. 

Of the six blind pupils enrolled in high schools in September, 
1913, three have continued their courses, two left to take up 
manual work, and the other graduated and has entered Columbia 
University. 

This latter pupil's record at the De Witt Clinton High School, 
Manhattan, shows how high the possibilities of attainment for 



58 

blind pupils can be raised. He graduated at the head of his class, 
receiving a gold medal for high special honors. In Latin, German, 
English and History his marks were 90 per cent, or over during 
the entire course. He is totally blind, commuted every day from 
his home in Bayside, L. I., and completed the regular four years' 
course in three years. 

Monthly conferences with the special teachers have been held 
throughout the year. 

WORK IN THE PRINTING OFFICE FOR THE BLIND 

The output from the printing office during the year is as follows: 

Embossed brass plates for new Braille books 2,646 

Printed pages 32,307 

(This equals, approximately, 645 bound volumes — 50 pages 
to a volume.) 

VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

To educate, in the ordinary meaning of the work, a normal 
blind child is a comparatively easy matter, but to educate in the 
broader sense, that is, to fit him for a useful and successful life, 
is a very difficult task. So few occupations are possible for a 
person lacking sight and competition is so keen in those open to 
him that the most thorough education is hardly sufficient to start 
a blind boy or girl on the road to success. 

Much is being said and done in the line of vocational education 
at the present time. Please allow me to call your attention to 
this great need for our blind children. 

A blind student blessed with a brilliant mentality and comfort- 
able home conditions may, after graduating from high school and 
college, earn his living by working in a profession or along literary 
lines. For these few gifted children the public schools in our city 
offer unexcelled advantages. The mentally slow blind child 
receives sufficient instruction in handwork to give him a start in 
the only occupations, such as chair caning, basketry, broom mak- 



60 

ing, rug weaving, etc., possible for him. For the great majority 
of blind children, who fall between these two extremes, not enough 
vocational training has been provided. Through long experience 
the institutions for the blind have found that music in its various 
forms offers the best opportunities for their charges. No pro- 
vision is made by the Board of Education for this form of voca- 
tional education. This lack has been provided for in a measure 
by the New York and Brooklyn Associations for the Blind. They 
have given instruction to forty-seven public school children, of 
our classes for blind children, during the past year: Thirty-seven 
on the piano, six on the piano and violin, three in voice and piano 
and one on the cornet. 

The New York Association for the Blind, in conjunction with 
the Music School Settlement, has also provided instruction for 
several former pupils in piano tuning and repairing. We wish to 
express our gratitude for this great help which has been given our 
pupils by these associations. 

The work of these associations along these lines is necessarily 
limited by lack of time and accommodations. Therefore, I beg 
leave to recommend the appointment of a special teacher of music 
to give instruction to the older blind pupils in both instrumental 
music and piano tuning. 

Five of our pupils this spring won scholarships offered by the 
National Conservatory of Music of America. Of these, one girl 
will receive vocal instruction, two boys piano lessons, and two 
boys instruction upon the violin during the coming year. 

PHYSICAL TRAINING — ATHLETICS 

The work in physical training has followed the same broad 
lines as heretofore. Much interest is shown in athletics. In the 
championship games held at Madison Square Garden last winter, 
a blind boy from Public School 171, Manhattan, was in the finals 
for the 100-yard dash. At the fete held in Central Park June 8th, 
nine blind girls from Public School 17, Manhattan, danced with 
sighted partners. They kept together so well that it was impossi- 
ble to distinguish the sightless dancers from the others. 




BLIND CHILDREN FROM P. S. 30, MANHATTAN, STUDYING AN ESKIMO FIGURE IN 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, APRIL, 1914 



62 



LECTURES FOR BLIND CHILDREN 



The lectures especially prepared for our blind children by the 
American Museum of Natural History during the year were greatly 
enjoyed by those who were able to attend. 

EYE EXAMINATIONS 

Through the co-operation of the Sight Saving Service of the 
New York Association for the Blind, 121 public school children 
were examined during the year at special weekly clinics held by 
Dr. Ellice M. Alger, Professor of Diseases of the Eye at the Post- 
Graduate Hospital. Of this number 43 were pupils in our classes 
for blind children. Thirty-seven were not attending school 
because of eye trouble and 41 were brought for examination by a 
school visitor of the Public Education Association. Of the 37 not 
attending school, 23 were admitted to the classes for blind children, 
10, after examination and treatment, were able to return to their 
regular classes, and four, who were over 14 years of age, secured 
employment. Complete records are kept on file and have proved 
of great value in dealing intelligently with each case. 

The great service rendered us by Dr. Alger deserves a hearty 
note of thanks. 

Glasses were prescribed for 46 children. Where parents were 
unable to purchase glasses for their children, they were procured 
through private contributions. A small sum of money placed, 
yearly, in the hands of the Associate Superintendent in Charge of 
Classes for Blind Children to provide such glasses, would yield a 
large return by increasing the efficiency of children suffering from 
curable defects of vision. 

Respectfully submitted, 

S. FLORENCE WARREN, 
Acting Inspector, Classes for the Blind. 



63 



SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF 

Mr. William H. Maxwell, 

City Superintendent of Schools, 

Dear Sir: 

I have the honor to submit my report for the year 1913-1914 
on the work of the School for the Deaf. 

STATISTICS % 

Register Boys Girls Total 

June 30, 1913— Manhattan 127 110 237 

Brooklyn 10 8 18 

Queens 5 3 8 

Total 142 121 263 

June 30, 1914— Manhattan 132 118 250 

Brooklyn 13 6 19 

Queens 8 7 15 

Total 153 131 284 

No. of classes June 30, 1913: No. of classes June 30, 1914: 

Manhattan 25 Manhattan 28 

Brooklyn 2 Brooklyn 2 

Queens 1 Queens 1 

28 31 

Seventy children have been admitted to the school during 
the school year. Each year we receive an increased number of 
children from regular schools who have lost ground through partial 
deafness. These children become alert and happy and find that 



64 

they can do well when under proper conditions. The regular 
school gains, too, by being relieved of children who are a drag. 

There have been more discharges than usual because a number 
of pupils over 16 years of age were compelled to go to work. Of 
the children discharged 

5 were graduates. 
17 went to work. 

11 went to institutions, because of poor home surroundings. 

6 moved out of the city. 

1 was too ill to attend. 

3 were transferred to regular schools. 
3 went to private schools. 

2 died. 

1 (over age) is staying at home. 

The school keeps in touch with all the pupils who have left 
it'and reports show they are working earnestly and in many cases 
doing very well. 

The Brooklyn classes have held their own and the Queens class 
has almost doubled; but I think these children would gain more 
rapidly if they were in the central school and could have the ad- 
vantage of better grading and regular industrial work. 



ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF DEAFNESS 



AGE AT WHICH DEAFNESS OCCURRED 

87 were born deaf. 

86 became deaf before the third year. 

65 became deaf before the sixth year. 

46 became deaf after they were six years old. 

This table shows that 60 per cent, of the school must acquire 
speech and language. 



65 

CAUSES OF DEAFNESS 

87 are congenitals. 
76 are deaf from spinal meningitis. 
38 are deaf from scarlet fever. 
10 are deaf from convulsions. 
12 are deaf from falls and blows. 

4 are deaf from typhoid. 

7 are deaf from brain fever. 

9 are deaf as a result of measles. 

5 are deaf from infantile paralysis. 

4 are deaf from abscesses. 

7 are deaf, from catarrh. 

3 are deaf from pneumonia. 
10 a gradual loss of hearing. 
12 unknown. 

These children are not only deaf, but they are physically not 
strong. They shuffle their feet and have a poor gait. Their 
physical training must be considered very carefully. 

AMOUNT OF DEAFNESS 

156 are totally deaf. 

120 can hear loud sounds. 

8 can hear the voice at close range. 

WHERE CHILDREN COME FROM 

168 from Manhattan. 
63 from Brooklyn. 
27 from the Bronx. 
20 from Queens. 

5 from Richmond. 

1 from out of town. 

The daily traveling to and from school has given these chil- 
dren self reliance and has brought them in constant contact with 
hearing people. The older children take care of the little ones and 
there have been no accidents. The more normal we can make 
these children the better able they will be to take a place in the 
world and to keep it. The world shows little sympathy for the 
deaf. The affliction of blindness or lameness is apparent and 



66 

arouses instant desire to help, but people grow irritable in talking 
to the deaf and fail to realize how terribly they are shut out from 
the world. Hence, our school must teach them to rely upon them- 
selves, to forget their handicap, and to try to be like other people, 
still realizing that they must work harder than normal people in 
order to make their way in the world. Courage and perseverance 
must be the motto of the deaf. 

PHYSICAL CARE OF THE DEAF 

This year the efficiency of the work in this line was increased 
through the kindness of Dr. Josephine E. Baker of the Board of 
Health, who allowed us to have a nurse to assist our aurist, Dr. 
George B. McAuliffe. The nurse comes every Thursday after- 
noon to help the doctor in the examination and treatment of eyes, 
ears and throat, and she also comes for half an hour every day to 
give special treatment to certain children, carrying out the doctor's 
directions. Besides our own children, Dr. McAuliffe has exam- 
ined 20 children sent to us by other schools and by Miss Farrell's 
department. Some of these have been examined several times. 
Dr. McAuliffe again deserves our gratitude for his untiring efforts 
to help our children. 

The report of Miss A. J. Smith, in charge of our physical 
training, tells of our progress and of our needs in this line. 

REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING 

The plan of work for the physical training of the deaf constituted one of 
the most difficult problems presented to the Department of Physical Training. 
The plan of education in this day school for the deaf is in many ways materially 
different from that of other institutions for the deaf. It was necessary, 
therefore, to arrange an original course of study and special methods for teach- 
ing physical training in order to co-operate with the plan of work for this 
school. 

The physical training is under the supervision of Dr. A. K. Aldinger and 
Miss Adela J. Smith of the Department of Physical Training. Five years of 
earnest work has resulted in an original system of physical training for the 
deaf, including many activities and methods of instruction attempted in no 
other institution for the deaf. It includes formal gymnastics, rhythmic 



67 

exercises, mimetic exercises, games, team play, folk dancing, and this term 
training in swimming has been included. The plan co-operates with the 
regular class room work, the basis of which is speech reading and oral expres- 
sion. 

The majority of the deaf are inferior physically to the normal child, and 
much importance is attached, therefore, to their intelligent understanding of 
the value of systematic physical training and personal hygiene. 

Through the formal gymnastics special attention has been given to the 
attainment of good posture. While this is important in the training of the 
normal child, it assumes greater significance in these handicapped children. 

Special exercises are given to train alertness in response to commands and 
directions. These drills are given through speech reading. They are con- 
sidered especially valuable in the training of deaf children since their alertness 
in comprehending a situation and acting upon it may often save them in times 
of danger on the crowded city streets. Through this training also the class 
teacher is aided in obtaining prompt attention of the class and the training 
of the pupils in control and inhibition power which necessarily is the founda- 
tion of the technical training of the deaf. 

The series of rhythmic exercises and folk dances have helped very much 
in securing poise, posture and graceful carriage. The untrained deaf child 
has a characteristic shuffling gait, heavy carriage, and often an unbalanced 
and unsteady step. Much emphasis is, therefore, placed upon these rhythmic 
exercises, and for the younger children a series of exercises has been devised 
with ladders to educate a light step and erect carriage. 

It is pleasing to note the cheerful effect folk dancing has had upon the 
girls. It has become a mode of expression and in its reaction has produced 
marked changes in the dispositions of the girls, who are apt to be stolid and 
expressionless or even morose. This year over fifty girls from this school 
took part in the fete at Central Park. Watching their happy faces it was 
difficult to realize that they differed in any way from the other girls all about 
them. 

The boys' ambitions and ability in physical training are outgrowing the 
inadequate space of the school. Through the courtesy of the principal of P. S. 
40 the instruction and the practice in basket-ball and athletics are conducted 
once a week in the large gymnasium of that school with much benefit and 
pleasure to the boys. 

A new activity has been added to the course this term. During June the 
boys of the upper grades have received instruction in swimming. Two boys in 
this time qualified for the swimming button given by the P. S. A. L. It has 
been arranged for next term to give instruction and practice in swimming to 
the boys and the girls at the public swimming pool at the foot of East 23rd 
Street. The improvement in the health, strength and posture of these handi- 
capped children can be readily appreciated in comparing them with the new 
pupils admitted during the year. 



68 



HYGIENIC SUGGESTIONS 

There is need of better seating conditions. The seats in this school are 
old and cannot be properly adjusted because many of the adjustment tools 
cannot be supplied for this old furniture. The children in each grade vary in 
age and size in the same class room, since they are graded according to the 
speech training requirements of a grade. New adjustable desks are needed 
in order that adjustable plus and minus distance may be obtained. The 
seats should be a chair, like the new model Chandler seat and both desk and 
seat should be supplied with adjustment screws like those on the furniture for 
crippled children in order to save time in adjusting furniture. 

The work in physical training requires better accommodations. The assem- 
bly room and playgrounds are now used for physical training and the class 
rooms also. The playgrounds are dark and poorly ventilated and without a 
ray of sunshine. The stables at the rear of the school make attempts at venti- 
lation a farce. We want a large light airy gymnasium and shower baths; 
we want a big sunny roof playground for these children. We have demon- 
strated what can be accomplished even in small crowded quarters. It is of 
much importance that the deaf should have adequate accomodations for 
their physical welfare. 

ADELA J. SMITH, 
Department Physical Training- 
Classes for Deaf, Blind, Crippled Children. 

THE MENTAL SIDE 

The school has been better graded this year and the intro- 
duction of a kindergarten has given a right start to the beginners. 
The class began with 10 children and has increased to 19. These 
children had absolutely no language. They had never spoken nor 
did they know that objects had names. Their sole means of 
communication were natural gestures. Owing to this, all kin- 
dergarten work had to be modified and adapted to these conditions. 
The greatest gain came through the occupations in that they gave 
the children the ability to care for themselves and to find some- 
thing to do in the absence of the teacher. A beginning class of a 
dozen deaf children without this training would be impossible to 
handle. 

Great effort has been made to improve the speech and speech 
reading. Children are encourage to try to read the lips of all 
visitors. Contests in speaking in the main room at the morning 



69 

assembly have aroused the ambition of children, who never 
before had enough confidence to speak before an audience. One 
class of boys was so anxious to have their representative win 
that they spent their noontime coaching him on difficult sounds and 
proper phrasing and great was their joy when this boy won. 
These contests were limited to those classes which come to the 
morning assembly; but so great was the enthusiasm that a request 
came from all the classes down to the first year to be allowed to 
have a contest, a request which could not be denied. 

Dramatization has been introduced and " Hansel and Gretel," 
as seen at the Century Theatre, was one of the ambitious perfor- 
mances of a 4B class. This work is difficult, as no child hears 
another, and all work is done by watching closely each other's 
lips, so as to know when to enter and to take part. The result is 
a greater alertness and a gain in facial expression so mdfrked that 
visitors said, "They don't look like deaf children. Their faces 
are so expressive." 

INDUSTRIAL WORK 

This has made great strides this year. We have been surprised 
and gladdened at the willingness of business men to give our 
children an opportunity to work. We have an advantage in that 
we have but few children to place at a time. This gives us an 
opportunity to find what openings there are for the deaf and then 
we prepare the child for the position. In a letter from Mr. 
Charles R. Lamb, in which he urges a friend to accept one of our 
pupils, he speaks as follows: "I have one of the graduates with me, 
a young man, and find that apart from the personal equation as 
to ability the very handicap is in a sense an advantage in the 
designing room, as they are very quiet and concentrate on their 
work. All that is necessary is to give the required direction and 
they are faithful in carrying out their instructions." 

The boys in the workshop have completed 201 articles, includ- 
ing library tables, desks, lamps and many small articles. They 
have also saved the Board about $150.00 in repairs they have done 
about the school. 



70 

The printing received such favorable comment that we were 
asked to take orders from outside. We had similar requests for 
our sewing, our shopwork and our industrial art. Upon our 
request, the Board granted us permission to be known as The 
Elementary and Trade School for the Deaf, which included per- 
mission to sell and take orders. This is a splendid opportunity 
for our pupils; but it adds to the difficulties of school adminis- 
tration, for we are trying to give these handicapped children the 
full elementary school education and at the same time we are 
giving them industrial training. We must be careful to give to 
each the proper proportion of time. This means hours and hours 
of planning, etc., so that the pupils may lose none of the academic 
work and yet get the industrial side. Our sessions are from nine 
till four, and cannot be continued longer because of the distances 
the children live from the school. In the institutions for the deaf 
the industrial work is done before nine, or in the late afternoon, or 
on Saturdays. This, of course, we cannot do, but it will probably 
be necessary in another year to start evening classes in craft and 
in speech work for former pupils who are working and for adults 
who may wish this aid. There may be need also of allowing 
graduates who can afford the time to return to the school, after 
graduation, for a year of craft work, to be given during the regular 
school hours. 

THE GRADUATES 

Five graduates left us in January and we have been much 
elated over the success of two of the boys. One a lad, totally deaf 
since he was six years old as a result of scarlet fever, entered Stuy- 
vesant High School. This was the first attempt to try a deaf 
boy in a hearing high school. The blind boy has done splendid 
work in our high schools, but he hears all that is said. The deaf 
boy not only had to read the words from the different teachers' 
lips, but also the answers made by the pupils in the class. At 
first it was hard, hard work, but the boy was determined to succeed 
and at the close of this term he had no mark below 80 per cent. 
He has received no special consideration and no excuses were made 
for him, but he has had the kindness and sympathy of good teach- 



71 

ers and of Dr. Von Nardroff. We feel this is a great success for 
the lad and for P. S. 47, where he attended school for five and a 
half years. The second boy has been deaf since he was two years 
old. He can hear loud sounds. He has entered the East Orange 
High School and has succeeded beyond our hopes. 

In connection with this we must remember that the deaf 
acquire language through hard, hard work. Our vocabulary is 
largely the result of what we hear; the vocabulary of the deaf is 
a matter of memory to a great extent. 

NEED OF A NEW BUILDING 

Our field presents many problems most interesting and thought 
provoking and this school has an unusual opportunity to advance 
the work of the deaf. When we get a new building we can show 
its possibilities. At present our numbers increase, and our 
industrial department grows but the space does not increase. 
In each of three rooms two classes are being taught, which is diffi- 
cult with deaf children. When the boys want to make a table or 
saw a large board they have to take their work out of the shop 
into a dark hole in order to have room. Worst of all, our pupils 
are here from nine till four and never have a chance to play out- 
doors because all the outdoors we have is a very small yard hemmed 
in by tall buildings. The new building ought to be large enough 
to house all our deaf children in one central well-graded school 
with a fine industrial equipment, in order to do justice to the work. 

OUR SCHOOL PAPER 

"The Voice" still continues to flourish and has received favor- 
able mention as far as California. The contents and the work- 
manship are the children's own. 

a year's progress 

Looking over the year's work, we see a decided gain along all 
lines. Perhaps the greatest gains are the broadening of our in- 
dustrial work, and the improvement in the dispositions and in the 



facial expressions of our pupils. When a handicapped child finds 
he is of use, his whole face brightens and becomes expressive. 

One favor we beg, and this petition comes from the children 
themselves. Please omit the word "dumb" in speaking of this 
school. Every child is making earnest efforts to talk. It is 
hard to be called "deaf," but "dumb" somehow casts a stigma 
which is cruel, and which is not true of our pupils. 

One of our most earnest desires is that the Board of Superin- 
tendents and the Board of Education may find time to visit the 
school j[to see if the expenditure of money and labor is justified 
in the results. 

Respectfully submitted, 

CARRIE WALLACE KEARNS. 

Principal, Elementary and Trade School for the Deaf. 



73 



CLASSES FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN 



Mr. William H. Maxwell, 

City Superintendent of Schools, 



New York, July 15, 1914. 



Dear Sir: 

The following table includes the schools having classes of crip- 
pled children, the number of classes in ' each school, and the 
register and average attendance in each school for the month of 
May, 1914. 





Public 
School 


Classes 


Register 


Average 
Attendance 


Manhattan 


2P 

27 

30 

44 

67 

68 

70 
104 
107 


11 
3 
1 
2 
5 
3 
1 
1 
3 


167 
47 
18 
43 
84 
61 
19 
20 
75 


158 


a 


45 


a 


17 


a 


35 


u 


65 


a 


54 


a 


16 


a 


19 


a 


57 






u 


14 (Tubercular 
Crippled) 


30 

1 


534 
16 


466 




16 


The Bronx 


8 
44 

47 


1 
1 
1 


26 
21 

12 


22 


u 


19 


it 


11 










3 


59 


52 


Brooklyn 


64 

80 

162 

168 


1 
1 
4 
1 


33 
16 
82 
26 


24 


a 


14 


a 


68 


a 


23 










7 


157 


129 



From this table it will be seen that there are at present 41 
classes of crippled children with an attendance of 766 pupils. 



74 

During the past year the stages provided by the Board of 
Education have transported the children to each school named, 
except those children attending the annex to Public School 2, 
Manhattan. 

Owing to the large expense involved and the desirability of 
appropriating more money for education in industrial lines, the 
Managers of the East Side Free School Association of Crippled 
Children have requested the Board of Education to pay $5,000 for 
rent of the building for crippled children and to defray one-half 
of the expense of transportation, $1,800, for the coming year. 
The Board of Superintendents recommended favorable action on 
this request. This building, which accomodates 11 classes and 
167 pupils, is an ideal one for the purpose. 

The Association for the Aid of Crippled Children, 5 Livingston 
Place, Stuyvesant Square, offered to aid the school authorities 
in caring for crippled children attending the public schools. The 
association expressed a willingness to assist in looking up crippled 
children not attending school, to report upon cases of absence, to 
visit the children at their homes, to look after their physical con- 
dition, to take them to hospitals and dispensaries, and to give 
relief or to obtain it through relief agency when advisable. This 
kind offer was accepted, and the City Superintendent sent a cir- 
cular letter to the principals of all schools having classes of crippled 
children asking the principals to co-operate heartily with the 
association, to report cases that need attention, and to allow its 
representative to visit the classes as they desired. 

There has been considerable agitation during the past year in 
favor of introducing much more industrial and vocational work 
into the classes for crippled children, and to make trade instruction 
prominent, but as yet the Board of Superintendents has not 
thought it advisable to recommend anything definite in this line. 

If these children could be gathered into some one or two 
central buildings, the proposition would meet with greater favor. 

The five classes in Public School 67, Manhattan, are to be 
transferred to Public School 69 at the opening of the coming term 



75 

in order to provide additional rooms in Public School 67 for stu- 
dents in the High School of Commerce annex. 



With the large number of crippled children attending the pub- 
lic schools, the need of medical attention in so many cases, much 
of it by specialists, it is my conviction that the time has come 
for the selection of a supervisor to take charge of this work. In 
addition to the need of medical attention, these children in most 
cases need suitable food, a special course of study that gives 
emphasis to physical and industrial training, and personal over- 
sight by some competent person selected for the purpose. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Andeew W. Edson, 
Associate City Superintendent. 



76 

REPORT ON VISITING TEACHERS 

July 20, 1914. 
Mr. William H, Maxwell, 

City Superintendent of Schools, 

Dear Sir: 

As per your request, I submit a brief account of the work of 
the visiting teachers for the term just closed. 

For the past few years the Board of Education has requested 
the Board of Estimate to appropriate money for the employment 
of twenty-five visiting teachers, but no appropriation was made 
until last year, when money was granted for the employment of 
eight such teachers. Two of these were assigned to the Inspector 
of Ungraded Classes, four were appointed on February 1st to serve 
in two schools each, under the direction of district superintendents 
and principals. Two others have been appointed to begin service 
in September next. 

The following persons were appointed as visiting teachers: 
Miss Margaret A. McGroarty, assigned to Public School 78 and 
Public School 159, Manhattan, James Lee, District Superin- 
tendent; Miss Cornelia L. Swinnerton, assigned to Public School 
9 and Public School 43, The Bronx, John Dwyer, District 
Superintendent; Miss Alice B. Haines, assigned to Public School 
5 and Public School 157, Brooklyn, John Griffin, District Superin- 
tendent; and Miss Katherine E. Manley, assigned to Public 
School 109, Boys, Public School 109, Girls, and Public School 165, 
Brooklyn, Charles W. Lyon, District Superintendent. The two 
appointed for service in September are Miss Christine Schaefer, 
to be assigned to Public School 2 and Public School 40, The 
Bronx, Joseph S. Taylor, District Superintendent, and Miss Jessie 
L. Louderback, to be assigned to Public School 19 and Public 



77 

School 104, Manhattan, Mrs. Ruth G. McGray, District Super- 
intendent. 

In order to systematize the work, special blanks were pre- 
pared for the visiting teachers to fill out and submit each day to 
the principal of the school, giving information in reference to 
each child whose case was investigated. 

The following is a copy of the blank : 

OFFICE OF THE CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 
Special Report of Visiting Teacher 

(To be submitted to the principal each day) 

1. Name of child 

Residence 

School ; Borough Grade *. .Age 

2. Special reasons for investigation. 

3. Home and neighborhood conditions. 

4. Attitude of parents towards the child and towards school. 

5. Action taken by visitor and by parents. 

6. Results, 

7. Day and hour of visit. 
,1914. 

(Signed) 

Visiting Teacher. 

At the close of each week the visiting teacher was required to 
fill out a blank in duplicate to be sent to the district superintendent 
who forwarded a copy to the City Superintendent. This blank 
called for a statement of the number of visits to homes, the number 
of children looked after, the cause of the visit, remarks, and the 
hours of service each day. 

At the close of the term a request was made of the visiting 
teachers, principals, and district superintendents for a brief state- 
ment of the general purpose and method of work of the visiting 
teachers; a comprehensive view of the several steps taken; a 
summary of the cases treated, with the reasons for the investi- 
gation, conditions found, and action taken; a list of the private 
agencies that have co-operated with the visiting teacher; the 



78 

character of the assistance rendered; the conditions of the local 
neighborhood; the local school problems; significant cases illus- 
trating the "human side" of the work, group activities organized 
through problems growing out of local needs, important confer- 
ences held or attended which tend to widen the influence of the 
visiting teachers, and suggestions for future betterment of the 
work. 

A brief summary of the answers received from the visiting 
teachers is as follows : 

GENERAL PURPOSE AND METHOD OF WORK 

The general purpose of visiting teachers is to interest parents 
in school work and seek their co-operation; to raise the educational 
standard of the neighborhood; to obtain a better understanding 
between the school and the home; to discover, where possible, 
the causes and to deal with cases of irregular attendance, tardiness, 
misconduct, poor scholarship, nervousness, and ill health; and to 
advise parents or guardians in reference to the need of medical 
attention and where to secure it, and to suggest as to the need of 
proper food, clothing, open air, play and exercise. 

The method followed is to report personally once or twice a 
week to the district superintendent, and daily to the principals 
of the schools to which she is assigned. 

After securing the names and addresses of children in need of 
attention, the visiting teacher confers first with the children and 
class teachers, and consults the record blanks in order to secure as 
much information in advance as possible in reference to the chil- 
dren. By this course, the visiting teacher has a good school 
background that will enable her to talk with parents intelligently 
and helpfully. In some cases the assistance of charitable or social 
agencies is at once invoked. After these interviews the visiting 
teacher reports back to the principal of the school as to the steps 
taken, to advise farther in reference to these cases and to secure 
the names of other children in need of attention. Many of these 
cases need several visits. 



79 



SUMMARY OF THE CASES TREATED 

Miss McGroarty: Number of visits, 403; number of cases 
treated, 312. 

Miss Swinnerton: Number of cases treated, 81. 

Miss Haines: Number of cases treated, 372. 

Miss Manley : Number of cases treated, 434; Number of visits, 
967. 

CONDITIONS INVESTIGATED 

Irregular attendance caused by illness and lack of interest; 
lateness; misconduct; poor scholarship; a conviction that the 
parents were more at fault than the children; bad environment. 

CONDITIONS FOUND 

Children incorrigible at home; bad companions and bad en- 
vironment; on the street late at night; immorality; adverse 
home conditions; lack of parental authority; sickness in the fam- 
ily; children kept out of school to help care for younger members of 
the family; both parents at work away from home; illiteracy of 
parents and indifference as to an education; slothful and indifferent 
mothers; waywardness of children without knowledge of parents; 
extreme povery; and foreign-born girls over fourteen years of 
age striving to evade the law requiring them to secure an employ- 
ment certificate. 

ACTION TAKEN 

Parents instructed as to the necessity of an education for their 
children; mothers induced to take an interest in the mental and 
moral development of their children; group conferences with 
parents at school; cases of chronic truancy referred to the truant 
officers; application made to the Bureau of Charities, Labor 
Bureau, the Gerry Society, the Salvation Army, local settlements, 
hospitals and dispensaries, and private agencies, for material 
assistance; and children induced to take a right attitude towards 
the school. 



80 



OUTCOME OF INVESTIGATION 

In most of the cases of irregular attendance the delinquent 
children returned to school after one visit by the visiting teacher; 
interest taken in these exceptional cases by individuals and by 
societies; children cared for by "big brothers" or "big sisters"; 
employment secured for parents out of work; better food, better 
clothing, and medical treatment secured for those in need; arrange- 
ments made to have young children sent to a day nursery so that 
the older children may attend school; increased interest by par- 
ents in the children and in all agencies for the betterment of their 
children. 

AGENCIES THAT CO-OPERATED WITH THE VISITING TEACHERS 

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Silver Cross 
Day Nursery, Children's Aid Society, Hebrew Sisterhood, Board 
of Health Clinics, Public Education Society, Child Labor Associa- 
tion, Charity Organization Society, Association for Improving 
the Condition of the Poor, United Neighborhood Guild, St. Ann's 
Parish House, Maxwell House, Supervisor of School Nurses, Social 
Service Exchange, Social Service Department of Hospitals, The 
Bronx House, College Settlement, University Settlement, Green- 
wich House, Supervisor of Department of Health T. B. Clinic, 
Russell Sage Foundation, New York State Charities Conference, 
Conferences of Volunteer Workers, Hebrew Aid Society, Bureau 
of Charities, the Gerry Society, the Salvation Army, Willoughby 
Settlement, Eagle Information Bureau, United Neighborhood 
Guild, the local hospitals and churches. 

A FEW SIGNIFICANT CASES 

"A volunteer worker was induced by the visiting teacher to take an interest 
in a delinquent girl of fifteen who needed constant oversight, to introduce her 
to a Domestic Arts Clubhand to keep up an acquaintance with her at home." 

"A boy whose conduct was bad and attendance poor, was found to be 
living with a step-mother whom he disliked. The boy was taken to another 
relative by the father, with good results in attendance and conduct." 

"A boy nine years of age in the ungraded class was a source of annoyance 
to his teacher and the members of his class because of a bad habit, due to certain 



81 

physical conditions, which could be removed by an operation. The parents' 
consent was secured to have the operation performed and all arrangements 
were made for his admission to the hospital. The operation was successful 
and the habit was corrected." 

"Two colored boys were reported because of irregular attendance. In 
visiting the home the mother was found to be sick in bed and the father with 
work only about three days a week. They were behind in rent and had 
pawned most of their clothes and furniture to buy food. The mother was not 
receiving medical attention. The boys came to school without food. As 
immediate relief from the charity organizations could not be obtained, some 
of the teachers and the visiting teacher provided food for the family, clothes 
for the boys, and medical treatment for the mother. One of the societies 
of the colored church became interested in the family and temporary aid was 
given." 

"A girl transferred from another school was reported as being a habitual 
truant. The child's home was found to be far below the standard and the 
child was kept at home to do the mother's work as janitress. The father, a 
consumptive, was away from home and the mother was indifferent as to the 
welfare of the child, who lacked clothing and proper attention. Clothing was 
provided and the child's attendance improved. On a later visit, a boy about 
ten years of age, who had never been to school, was discovered. Arrangements 
were at once made for his admission to school." 

TESTIMONY OF PRINCIPALS 

"Much of the work accomplished this year could not have been done with- 
out our visiting teacher. We have individual cases enough to date to warrant 
paying her salary for the next twenty years. When a young girl of fifteen is 
saved from a life of shame, and put where she will lead a self-respecting, 
upright life, the value is far beyond anything that money can express, as was 
done in several instances." 

"The 'human side' would not be sufficiently exemplified were I to omit 
mention of securing work for fathers and mothers out of employment. After 
all when the bread and butter need cries out, it cannot be satisfied with phil- 
osophy, pure and simple. Our work is too young to have given time to 
develop group activities or organizations. In fact the individual work was so 
effective that our entire neighborhood shows its influence." 

''It seems to me that there is not as yet the proper co-ordination between 
the work of the nurse, the truant officer, and the visiting teacher. Each one 
has a distinct field but still over-lapping. The truant officer seeks to return 
the absent child, but his district is so large that there must be short time given 
somewhere, and I think there ought to be time given to bringing in the chil- 
dren who play openly in the streets. Intricate cases that require special 



82 

treatment might be turned over to the visiting teacher. She in turn should be 
able to hand over to the school nurse the cases requiring hospital or similar 
treatment. So the nurse, when she finds improper home environment, 
should call in the good offices of the visiting teacher. Some such system 
of interdependence would finally improve all the work." 

"It is next to impossible to convince some of the parents of this section 
that the law has any right to interfere with them in deciding what they shall 
do with their children. They resent any interference, and seem to think 
that it is not in keeping with the liberty that they expected to find in this 
country. 

"Frequent conferences were held with the visiting teacher for the purpose 
of deciding what steps were to be taken in individual cases, suggestions were 
made as to method of procedure, and in general effort was made to co-operate 
with the visiting teacher in such manner as to impress the parents with the 
fact that her work was in harmony with the work of the school, and that the 
only purpose of both was to contribute to the welfare of the children, so that 
they might grow up to be good men and good women. 

"I wish to take this opportunity to testifying to the earnestness, sincerity, 
and industry which have characterized the work of the visiting teacher. She 
has succeeded in gaining the confidence of the parents, and I am satisfied 
that her influence for good will be greatly increased in the future." 

" The early attempts to bring the home and the school into closer relation 
were not altogether successful because they relied too greatly upon the efforts 
of the teacher and of the supervisor, after the regular school hours, to establish 
this delicate adjustment, oblivious of the fact that this duty required the dis- 
play of powers undimmed by fatigue and unclouded by anxiety. It also 
became evident that the establishment of harmonious relations between the 
teacher and parent demanded special powers and ability, which every teacher 
did not possess; again, conditions frequently made it necessary for the visit 
to be made in the evening, when the father had returned home from his work, 
all of which added to the complexity of the problem. These difficulties called 
into existence a new agency for establishing permanent and efficient relations 
between teacher and parent, to short-circuit, so to speak, the school and the 
home, — and the visiting teacher stepped in to make the connection. 

' ' To enumerate all the specific duties of the visiting teachers is impossible. 
Each of the factors of the problem — the home, the parents, the school, and the 
pupil, separately and in combination, presents constantly changing needs. 
The home presents problems of povery and of destitution, of domestic un- 
happiness and of parental neglect, which the visiting teacher must seek to 
study and to solve. The parents require advice how to procure employment 
and instruction how to help their children overcome the influences of an un- 
favorable environment; they must be stimulated to persevere and inspired to 
consider the welfare of their children their chief concern. The child must be 
studied to determine the particular causes which are hampering his develop- 



83 

ment. The organization and management of the school must be scrutinized 
to correct any defects of maladjustment, which may cause friction and retard 
the pupil's progress. Splendid indeed must be the mental and personal 
endowments of the individual who can accomplish all this and who can bring 
to bear upon this work powers of insight, inspiration, sympathy, tact, common 
sense and indefatigable industry. I am very glad to state that our visiting 
teacher fully measures up to the high requirements of her position. 

"In performing her duties, the visiting teacher naturally avails herself 
of all the agencies whose co-operation is helpful. She has enlisted the help 
of philanthropic individuals and the services of the Hebrew Educational 
Society for recreational opportunities, the clinics and hospitals in the neigh- 
borhood of the school, the Hebrew Aid Society for the relief of poverty, the 
Social Service Society, the Bureau of Charities and the Children's Aid Society. " 
"This work is conducted in probably one of the poorest sections of our 
City. The ignorance of many of the parents of our language and our insti- 
tutions, the frequent and protracted periods of industrial depression, the con- 
gestion of the population — all combine to make the "bread" problem the 
one of all absorbing interest, and to thrust upon outside agenci^p, to a large 
extent, the training of the younger generation. All the visiting teachers' 
cases illustrate the need of a mediatorial office between the home and the 
school." 

"May I, in closing, express the hope that this splendid social service may 
escape the ever besetting danger of being judged largely by elaborate statistical 
records rather than by the spiritual results achieved, which cannot readily 
manifest themselves in reports? I believe that the present plan, which allows 
of perfect freedom of action in the interest of the children, should be retained, 
in order that there may be no danger of confusing the formal letter of a written 
report which killeth and the spirit of service which giveth life." 

"Our chief problem is to make the parents understand their responsibility. 
They do not understand English. They do not readily adjust themselves 
to new conditions in this country, and they do want the school to shoulder 
all their responsibilities. They cannot and do not exact obedience from their 
children, and the children have no respect for their parents." 

Pupils sign their own report cards, or tell their parents that cards are only 
given below the 7th year, that pupils who stay a second term in a class must 
be promoted at the end of that term whether he works or not. The parent 
naturally thinks that the child is always right, and it is most difficult to con- 
vince him that we cannot always please the child. The parents expect us to 
do favors for them. The cause of all this disobedience, untruthfulness and 
disrespect lies with the parent who, instead of firmly and kindly insisting 
upon a child doing the right thing, bribes him to do it. In school we have no 
trouble along these lines, but these conditions do not prevail in the home." 

"Our visiting teacher has been untiring in her efforts to bring about a 
proper adjustment of school and home. She is most faithful in her work 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 730 342 



84 



and very tactful in interviews with parents, and most willing to act upon any 
suggestion that will help in the work." 

"I believe that the visiting teacher can and does accomplish a great deal 
of good inasmuch as she brings about a closer co-operation between the school 
and the home. I do not know that I can offer any suggestions for future 
betterment of her work, except that I belive her usefulness would be much 
greater than it is if the various relief organizations co-operated with her more 
readily and easily . Although I believe that the roots of most of our problems 
are too deep to be reached by our relief organizations, still many maladjust- 
ments, mental and physical, can be corrected to some degree by these organi- 
zations." 

TESTIMONY OF DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENTS 

"The visiting teacher is a woman of much tact and her experience as a 
nurse under the Board of Health has been of very great value. She has spent 
her own money to procure food, shoes, and clothing for children, and she 
visits homes at night and goes to distant parts of the city to consult with 
fathers at their places of business." 

"I have great pleasure in certifying to the efficiency and zeal of the lady 
and have no doubt that in the future her influence will be increasing and 
helpful." 

In my opinion the work that should be assigned to the visiting teacher 
is that of the special cases that could not be very well assigned to the class 
teacher, the nurse, or the truant officer. The fact is that teachers are alto- 
gether too busy to make a careful diagnosis of the important cases in their 
classes. Our visiting teacher has had a few cases requiring attention to which 
no teacher would possibly have time enough to give." 

"One of the benefits of the work of the visiting teacher is that the class 
teachers are likely to take more pains in diagnosing the cases of wayward 
pupils. One of my principals informs me that already his teachers are more 
interested in these social conditions than they were before the visiting teacher 
commenced work." 

With the work so well begun, with the testimony of all in 
immediate charge of the visiting teachers so uniformly and strongly 
in favor of the retention and extension of the work, I strongly 
urge an appropriation for the employment of twenty-five visiting 
teachers for the coming year. 



Respectfully submitted, 



ANDREW W. EDSON, 

Chairman, Committee on Elementary Schools. 



